Harry Potter and the Secret of Lord Voldemort
by Kristen Riddle
Summary: Harry's in his fifth year at Hogwarts... but who are the two strange new students?
1. The Mysterious Summer

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Harry Potter 

and the 

Secret of Lord Voldemort

Year Five at Hogwarts

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Chapter 1: The Mysterious Summer

Harry Potter sat on his bed at number four Privet Drive. He stared down at the book open in front of him, _Hogwarts, A History._ He was doing his homework for his school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He looked down at the parchment. He saw nothing but his name written at the top. He sighed and yawned, looking at the clock. It was three o'clock in the morning. Harry put his books underneath the loose floorboard.

Harry lay down on the bed and pulled the covers around him. His eyes wandered to his desk, where there was one birthday card, from his friend Hermione Granger. He supposed he should have been happy about this, after all, he had spent years of his life without any sort of birthday recognition at all. But still… What had happened to Ron Weasley, his best friend? And his godfather?

But then his mind fell upon the events of last summer. What if Lord Voldemort had already taken over the wizard community? He would never know. In fact, he hadn't received anything from the magical community at all this summer. Hermione had a subscription to the _Daily Prophet_, the wizarding newspaper, but she told him she hadn't got it all summer. Something was majorly wrong.

Harry had been looking forward to the start of a new school year, but now he was uneasy. What was happening? Although Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster, had told him he was safe at the Dursleys, Harry couldn't help worrying about his friends.

Harry rubbed his eyes and turned over in his bed. "No use in worrying about it now. As Hagrid said, 'What will come will come…'" Harry whispered. And with that, he fell asleep.

The next morning Harry woke abruptly with a knock on the door. It was his Aunt Petunia, trying to tell him breakfast was ready. Harry sighed, but got up anyway to dress. Then he went down to eat.

When Harry got downstairs, everyone was already seated at the table. Dudley, Harry's enormous cousin, was complaining, as usual. "Why can't we ever have bacon for breakfast anymore?" he whined.

"Remember your diet, Dudley," said Aunt Petunia. Dudley pouted but began to eat his toast anyway.

Uncle Vernon was reading the newspaper. He looked up as Harry entered the room. "So," he said, "in three days I have to take you to that train station?"

"Yeah," said Harry gloomily. The thoughts of the night before hadn't been forgotten. Although, he was surprised that Uncle Vernon was the one to bring it up.

"You haven't got a letter from them yet," Uncle Vernon continued. "Maybe they don't want you anymore."

__

Oh, it was only an excuse to tease me about it, Harry thought. He started to get angry, but then thought better of it. _Let him think what he wants, _he thought. He had gotten angry before and run off, but this time there might not be any Ron or Leaky Cauldron to take him in.

A while later, Harry went up to his room to finish the essay for Professor Binns, the History of Magic teacher. He went up to his room and found Hedwig, his Snowy owl, sitting on his bed waiting for him. Harry eagerly snatched the note off Hedwig's leg. He had sent a note to Sirius and this was probably his reply. But when Harry opened the letter, he found it was his own. Hedwig hooted sadly at not being able to do her task.

Harry immediately picked up his quill and parchment to write a quick note to Hermione.

__

Dear Hermione,

Haven't heard from Ron lately have you? I tried to send Sirius a letter, but Hedwig just brought it right back to me. I hope nothing bad has happened. Have you been getting the Daily Prophet_? What does it say in there? I haven't heard from Hagrid either. I also haven't got a school letter. Did you get one? What's going on here?_

Write back as soon as possible,

Harry

Harry took the letter and tied it to Hedwig's leg. Hedwig looked like she could have done with a little rest first, but this was important. Harry watched Hedwig fly out the window, then went back to him homework.

The day before Harry was due to get on the Hogwarts Express, Hedwig flew in the window with an answer back from Hermione.

__

Dear Harry,

No I haven't heard from Ron, or gotten any issues of the Daily Prophet_. I also didn't get the school letter. I assume we should go to platform nine and three quarters at the normal time. If there is no train, maybe I can convince my parents to let you stay a while. I hope that we are wrong about anything bad happening. I hope everything is okay._

See you September 1st,

Hermione

Harry was even more worried now, but Hermione's letter cheered him a bit. He gave Hedwig a bite of ham from dinner and continued to pack.

The next morning, Harry found himself in the car with Uncle Vernon, driving to King's Cross Station. Hedwig was flapping about noisily in her cage. Harry's trunk was secure in the trunk of the car. Uncle Vernon grumbled every minute about Hedwig, and Harry worried more and more as he approached the station.

When they got to the station, Uncle Vernon tossed Harry's trunk out of the car and sped off. Harry was left to himself. He hoped the train was there, because if it wasn't, he would be in deep trouble. He got a cart for his luggage and set off to find Hermione.

Harry had, in past years, had gotten many stares from Muggles about his owl, so this year, he had covered Hedwig's cage with his jacket as he strolled through to platform nine.

When he got there, he saw Hermione waiting anxiously for him. "Hi, Harry!" she called nervously.

"Hi," Harry said back. "The barrier didn't work?"

"Oh, I didn't try it yet," said Hermione.

"Let's go together." They counted to three and walked up to the barrier. The walked right through, as usual, and, as usual, found the scarlet engine waiting for them at the platform.

"It worked!" shouted Hermione. She walked quickly back through the platform to say goodbye to her parents. Harry scanned the crowd for Ron.

The Weasleys were not heard to find. Five flaming red haired people were standing at the train door. Harry ran over to them. "Ron!" he called.

A tall, thin, freckly boy that was Ron turned around. "Hi, Harry!" Ron said. Hermione came up behind them. "Hi, Hermione," Ron added.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

"Happened when?" asked Ron.

"Why didn't you answer any of my letters?"

"Oh, that," Ron said, and to Harry and Hermione's surprise, Ron laughed. "Dad needed all our owls, so I had to give up Pig for the summer."

"But I sent Hedwig to you."

"Well, I got your letter, but the other Ministry owls Dad had around chased Hedwig away. And Dumbledore kept on telling us not to ask you to come. Said you were safer with the Muggles."

A short blast from the train told them it was time to board. "Have a good year!" Mrs. Weasley called to the trio, and also the twins and Ginny, Ron's brothers and sister. "Be careful," she added to Harry. Harry nodded and said goodbye.

"Come on," said Hermione. "I think I see an empty compartment."

They got on the train and it lurched forward. They walked into the empty compartment. There was someone in it.


	2. The New Student

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Chapter 2: The New Student

It was a girl, about their age, who had frizzy dark brown hair, which was done in a braid. She looked up at them with light brown eyes. Her trunk was opened, and her wand lit. She looked very strange.

"There's someone in here!" said Ron.

"Oh, well. She won't mind if we stay in here, will you?" said Hermione.

It took the girl a while to figure out who Hermione was talking to. "Oh, no, I don't mind."

"What are you doing?" asked Ron, noticing her lighted wand and open trunk.

"Oh! I was checking to see if I had everything," the girl said, sounding a bit nervous. She whispered, "_Nox_," to put her wand out, then put it in her jean pocket and closed the trunk.

"Oh," said Ron. "You looked kinda weird standing there like that."

She didn't say anything. Harry, Ron, and Hermione put their trunks away.

"What year are you in? I don't think I've seen you before. What house?" asked Harry.

"Uh, well I'm in the fifth year," she said, avoiding the other question.

"You are? So are we, but we've never seen you before."

"Well, I came from a different school. This is my first year at Hogwarts." Again, she talked a little nervously.

"Oh! That explains it! You'll be in our year then," said Hermione. "And by the way, I'm Hermione, that's Ron (she pointed to him), and of course, that's Harry."

"Right! Harry Potter!" The girl looked at the scar on his forehead. "I'm Lauren."

"So what school were you at before?" asked Harry.

"It was a really private school, you probably never heard of it before," Lauren said quickly.

"Hermione probably has," Ron muttered.

"It was called Oak Hill," she said.

"I haven't heard of that one!" exclaimed Hermione. "Where is it?"

"America."

"Oh, wow! You're American? Cool!" said Hermione.

The conversation was soon turned from Lauren and Ron said, "Harry, have you heard from…er…Snuffles lately?"

"Not all summer," said Harry, glumly.

"Don't worry," said Ron. "I'm sure he's just really busy. So, Harry, how come Dumbledore wouldn't let you come stay with us?" he said, changing the conversation.

"I don't know," said Harry, "but he did say something about being safer at the Dursley's."

"Well, you probably wouldn't have wanted to come anyway," Ron said, "Everyone was always in a bad mood."

"Oh, come on," said Hermione, "It can't have been that bad!"

"Well, Percy's now Head of the Department for International Magical Cooperation, don't ask me how. When he first started it, he loved it and never wanted to come home, but now he's just sick of it. Every day he works late and comes home in a bad mood. Plus he and Dad are still trying to convince the Ministry about You-Know-Who coming back." Lauren looked over at them as Ron said this, and Hermione gave him a look. In a lower voice, he continued, "No one will believe him, and that gets him mad. Then Fudge keeps sending owls and Howlers telling him not to go spreading untrue rumors around."

"Anything's better than the Dursleys," Harry growled.

"I'm not done yet!" said Ron. "Fred and George have started making things again in their room." Harry thought about giving Ron's older twin brothers his one thousand Galleon prize money on the train last year. "Then mum gets mad and starts yelling at them. Then she gets rid of whatever they're making, and that makes them mad. And Bill…"

"That's enough!" shouted Hermione. "Let's talk about something good for a change."

"Nothing good is happening!" argued Ron.

"At least we can play Quidditch again this year!" Harry said happily. "I wonder who will be the new captain, now that Wood's graduated."

They continued chatting about school Quidditch until a witch came with sweets. They each reached into their pocket, and pulled out some silver Sickles and bronze Knuts. They bought a few things, and they all shared with each other.

When the train stopped, they saw the lake where the giant squid lived, and where, last year, Harry and the rest of the champions in the Triwizard Tournament had to rescue a captive from under the water.

"Come with us," Hermione said, pulling Lauren into a horse-less carriage along with Ron and Harry.

Before they had shut the door behind them, a voice came, "All righ' Harry?" It was Hagrid, the large Hogwarts Gamekeeper, and teacher of Care of Magical Creatures. Harry, Ron, and Hermione waved back to Hagrid as he took the first years across the lake.

They walked into the Great Hall, and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Lauren stood uncomfortably. After all, she wasn't in a house yet.

"Sit-" Hermione started, but stopped. "We should go talk to Professor McGonagall." Hermione stood up and made a motion for Lauren to follow her as she walked back out of the Great Hall and into the entranceway they had just come through. Harry and Ron followed.

Professor McGonagall was standing in the corridor, trying to keep students from pushing each other. They had had a long train ride and were anxious to start the feast. She looked mean with funny looking glasses and a tight bun in the back of her head.

Hermione pushed her way past the crowds of people and said loudly, "Professor!" Professor McGonagall looked and she continued, "This is a new student, Lauren. She should be in fifth year, but she came from another school and doesn't know which house she's in. She'll look silly to get sorted with all those first years."

"Well, Miss Granger, the Sorting Hat is the one who decides in which house she should be placed. But, under the circumstances, I suppose it will be all right if she picks her own house. What house do you want to be in?"

Lauren paused, thinking hard.

"Well?" said McGonagall impatiently.

"Gryffindor," Lauren said.

"Ah! A fine selection! I am head of Gryffindor house! And Potter, Weasley, and Miss Granger, here, can show you up to the common room until you get the hang of things. Now hurry up and sit down! The first years will be sorted in just a few moments." Professor McGonagall hurried off.

Harry looked at the new girl. They hadn't talked about houses the whole train ride. How did she know to pick Gryffindor?

The group walked back into the Great Hall and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Lauren sat between Hermione and Ginny Weasley. The first years had begun to file into the room. They stood in alphabetical order in a single file line. "Good, he's made a friend," Lauren said, a little more loudly than she had intended to.

"Who?" asked Hermione.

"My brother. He's a first year," she explained.

"Is he the short one with brown hair that's talking to a little boy with blond hair?" asked Ginny.

"Uh…" Lauren looked up towards to front of the room. "Yes, that's him!" Lauren said.

Ginny smiled. Hermione gasped, "Wait! I haven't introduced you guys yet! Lauren this is Ginny Weasley, she's in the fourth year. Ginny this is Lauren. She's a fifth year, but she's new." Ginny and Lauren said hello to each other.

The sorting hat had begun to sing it's song, and the room went silent. All of a sudden, Ginny blurted out, in a whisper, "Hermione, isn't that the same song as last year?"

"I thought it sounded familiar," said Hermione.

"Me, too," said Harry, sitting on the other side of Hermione.

"What?" whispered Ron.

"Maybe it couldn't think of a new one this year," said Harry, ignoring Ron.

"I don't think so. It's had a whole year. I mean, what else does it have to do all year besides think of a song?" said Ginny. "Maybe it just thinks we won't notice."

"That seems like a pretty good idea. Anyway, we're probably the only ones who _did_ notice," said Hermione.

After a few minutes, the repeat song ended. Professor McGonagall, who was standing by the first years, said, "Now, all of you will put on the hat and sit down on the stool when I call your name. After the hat has chosen your house, you will sit down at your table." She unrolled a piece of parchment and began with, "Armstrong, Gregory." A little boy walked nervously up to the hat and put it on. In an instant it had yelled out, "RAVENCLAW!" and Gregory went to the Ravenclaw table.

Everyone watched the Sorting closely. No one had become a Gryffindor yet. This ended when "Cooper, Jake," became one. They all clapped and cheered for him, as he sat down across from Hermione.

Several other students were placed, then finally Professor McGonagall called out, "Lee, Jackie," who became a Hufflepuff. The next person in line was Lauren's brother's new friend, and they were all anxious to hear what house he would be in.

Professor McGonagall boomed out, "Malfoy, Scott," and Hermione, Ron, and Harry almost fell out of their chairs.


	3. The First Week

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Chapter 3: The First Week 

"Your brother's friend is a Malfoy? Yuck!" said Ron.

"I didn't know Malfoy had a brother!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Hope he's not in Gryffindor!" said Harry.

"What?" Lauren said, confused. She didn't know about the Malfoys' bad reputation.

"Draco Malfoy's in our year," said Ron. "He's a dirty old git!"

Luckily, the hat cried out, "SLYTHERIN!" and Scott went to join Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table.

Then McGonagall called out, "Marshall, Joseph," and Lauren's brother tried on the hat. They all wondered what the hat was saying to him right now. Harry remembered that four years ago when he had done it, the hat had tried to put him in Slytherin. A few seconds later, he was clapping along with the rest of the Gryffindors, as Joey sat down across from Lauren.

Soon, the last name was called, and McGonagall took the stool and hat away.

When Dumbledore stood up, the whole Hall quieted. He was wearing dark blue robes with stars and moons embroidered all over, as well as a pointy hat that matched. He had very long silvery-white hair and beard, and a long, crooked nose. He was even wearing half-mooned spectacles. But unlike the other four years Harry had been at Hogwarts, he was not smiling, and his eyes had a cold look.

"Before we feast," he began, "I have a few words. Bloober, goober and wonk."

The golden goblets and plates in front of them filled with food. They began to talk about the summer's events.

The desserts had come and they were still talking, but they had changed the conversation. Now they were talking about Dumbledore.

"He always smiles, I just don't understand it!" said Harry.

"It's certainly not at all like him," agreed Hermione.

Soon they had eaten their full and the plates cleared back to spotless. Dumbledore got back up again.

"Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts," he started, "and let me welcome all the new students." As Dumbledore said this, Harry swore he was looking straight at Lauren, or was it her brother, sitting across from her, who he was staring at? Dumbledore turned his eyes away and continued, "This year, we remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden to students." A few people laughed, including Fred and George Weasley, but they soon straightened up, noticing that Dumbledore, usually merry, was not even smiling. "Other than that, there is nothing of real importance to say. Now, Prefects, will you please show your houses up to their common rooms and tell them the password. Good night."

"I couldn't believe it when you told me you weren't going to be a prefect, Hermione," said Harry. "I thought for sure…"

"I changed my mind," Hermione snapped.

Ron looked amazed but shouted back with, "You're probably too busy doing homework for that type of thing!" Hermione moved away from him.

"Ron," sighed Hermione, "sometimes he can be a bit of a pain." Lauren giggled.

She followed Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny up to Gryffindor Tower. When they got there, they all gathered around a portrait of a fat lady wearing a pink dress. Lavender Brown, who was now a prefect, told them the password and they all clamored inside the portrait hole to the common room.

The common room was a large, circular room, filled with tables and fluffy chairs. There was a roaring fire in the fireplace at the back of the room, and two staircases coming off the room.

While everyone talked to their old friends, Harry saw Joey talking with Jake Cooper, a freckly boy with red hair. He almost looked like a Weasley. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought it was Ron's younger brother.

"I'm surprised he didn't come over on the train ride," Ron was saying, as Harry turned back to the conversation.

"I hope he went to Durmstrang," said Hermione.

"Yeah, right. With our luck? Any ways, the only reason he would have gone there was because of Karkaroff, and he's gone," said Harry, figuring out who they were chatting about instantly.

"Who?" Lauren asked.

"Malfoy," Ron told her. "I thought he wanted to go because they teach Dark Arts."

"He wouldn't need a school for that!" said Harry. "His dad could teach him everything he needs to know. He probably learns plenty from Vol- I mean, You-Know-Who."

"Speaking of Dark Arts," said Hermione, "I wonder who our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be this year!"

"I hope it's Professor Lupin," said Harry, sadly.

"Well, we all wish it was, but that's not going to happen. People won't want a werewolf to teach their kids!" said Hermione.

"But he was the best teacher we ever had!" said Harry.

They talked and talked. Finally, Harry said, "Let's go to bed, Ron. See you girls in the morning." He and Ron climbed a staircase to their dormitories.

"Hermione, can I ask you something?" Lauren said hesitantly, as they began to walk up the other set of stairs, but Harry was out of earshot.

Harry and Ron came in to breakfast after Hermione and Lauren the next morning. "Morning!" said Ron cheerfully. "What's first on our schedule today?"

Harry took out a folded piece of parchment from his pocket and opened it. "Oh, no! Our first class of the year has to be Potions! And we're still with Slytherins!" Everyone groaned, even Lauren. Harry took this as kind of odd, but didn't say anything.

"Great, we get to see Malfoy," said Hermione sarcastically.

"What's next?" asked Ron, trying to change the topic.

"Well, I have Arithmancy. You probably have Divination!" Hermione said, looking at her own schedule. When she said "Divination" she said it in a shaky voice, like it was something horrible and scary.

"Which are you taking?" Harry asked Lauren.

"Er…Divination," she said.

Hermione gasped. "After all I told you?"

"Well, it's too late now," Lauren said. "I already chose."

"Well," said Ron, smiling, "she can always walk out of class in the middle of term."

Hermione scowled at him and went back to her scrambled eggs.

After breakfast, they collected their things for Potions, and walked down to the cold dungeons. "Sit next to me, and I'll help you," instructed Hermione to Lauren outside the door to Snape's classroom. All four of them sat down at the back of the room. Harry and Ron sat at a table next to Lauren and Hermione with Neville Longbottom, a very clumsy boy who was terrified of Snape.

Everyone could see why. Professor Snape was sitting behind his desk at the front of the room. He had greasy black hair and a very big nose. Of course, the scariest thing about him was his evil scowl, which seemed to grow worse when he looked at any of the Gryffindors in the room, particularly Harry.

Hermione whispered something to Lauren, which Harry couldn't hear.

Snape got up from his desk and stood in the front of the room. He didn't make any rude comments toward Harry or anyone else. Instead, he started right in on making Potions with boomslang skin.

Everyone in the class took notes quickly.

The Gyffindors and Slytherins paid close attention. After Snape had finished telling them how to make a Blinding Potion, which made drinkers temporarily blind, he sat down at his desk and got wrapped up in something else.

Snape was so preoccupied that even when Neville's cauldron exploded, he didn't even scold. He simply said, "Clean it up, Longbottom," and went back to his work.

"What's with Snape?" Harry asked Hermione as he switched tables to avoid the mess of potion.

"I don't know," Lauren said, answering for Hermione, who had gone to help Neville clean up. Harry looked at her strangely, then went back to his own potion.

Soon, Neville's potion was cleaned up and Hermione was helping Lauren with her potion and Neville with his.

"I'm done, Professor," Hermione called out.

"Good for you, Granger," said Snape, not looking up.

It wasn't long before everyone in the class was finished, even Neville, with help from Hermione. Malfoy and his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle, strolled back toward them.

"Well," said Malfoy, "if it isn't Potter and his fans, the Mudblood and the poor little mouse."

"Shut up, Malfoy," the four of them said in unison. Neville was too nervous to say anything.

"And who do we have here?" asked Malfoy, turning to Lauren. "Another one of Potter's fans?"

"At least he has fans," she said quietly.

"What was that?" asked Malfoy. "Listen girl, I don't know who you are, but I do know one thing…"

"That's all you know," said Ron angrily.

"Shut up, Weasley," sneered Malfoy. He turned back to Lauren. "You've already made a bad choice about your friends, but, you can still change your mind."

"No thanks," Lauren said so quickly that Malfoy's pale face flushed red with anger.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," he said, as he walked back to his seat.

When class was over, Snape didn't say anything, and they all decided to leave.

"Watch yourself," Malfoy said to Lauren as they left the dungeons.

"Don't worry," she called cheerfully, "I will!"

Lauren followed Harry and Ron up the stairs, and Hermione went around the corner.

"What was up with Snape today?" Harry asked again as they walked to Divination. "He seemed a little preoccupied."

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "he didn't even take points off Gryffindor when Neville spilled his potion."

"He's probably a little busy with…well…you know," said Harry cautiously eyeing Lauren.

"Right," said Ron.

"I can't believe we're still taking Divination," said Ron minutes later, as they stood below a long rope ladder. 

Harry shrugged. "I dunno; it's kind of entertaining." He and Ron laughed.

They climbed up through the trap door and into a hot, stuffy room filled with the scent of perfume. The three of them sat down at a table near the back of the room.

"Welcome back!" said a soft, misty voice coming from the front of the room. Professor Trelawny sat down in her chair at the front of the room and scanned the faces with her eyes. "Ah, yes!" she said, looking at Lauren. "The oracles have told me we would be getting a new student this year. What is your name, dear?"

"Lauren Marshall."

"Well, of course I knew that already. Maybe you'd like to come sit up in the front of the room, so I can help you specially."

"No thanks," she said, as Harry and Ron laughed into their hands.

All through the lesson, Ron and Harry made comments on almost everything Professor Trelawny had to say. The two girls at the front of the room, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, however, seemed to take it all very seriously.


	4. Beavers and Stones

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Chapter 4: Beavers and Stones

The next day, they were eating breakfast when they heard a familiar sound of hundreds of owls swooping down to deliver letters. Hedwig flew down to Harry and stood on his shoulder.

"Hey, Hedwig!" Harry said as he untied a piece of parchment from Hedwig's leg. "It's from Snuffles!" he cried out. Ron looked over his eggs to see what was written in the letter.

"He wants us to meet him in Hogsmeade! Hermione, when's our first visit?" Ron asked anxiously.

"I think this weekend," Hermione answered.

"He says he has lots to tell us," Harry read.

Harry leaned over to Hermione and whispered, "What about Lauren?"

"What about her?" asked Hermione in a regular volume.

"Well, we can't take her!"

"And why not?"

"Because…oh, you know!"

"No, I don't!"

"Oh, fine then! We'll take her! But we'd better make sure she won't tell anyone!"

"She's good at keeping secrets," Hermione said.

"What're our classes today?" Lauren asked, trying to change conversation.

"History of Magic and Charms," answered Ron.

"Goody," she said sarcastically. "Well, we'd better go or we'll be late for Professor Binns." She shoved the last bite of toast in her mouth, picked up her stuff and started to walk out of the Great Hall.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed. "There is something weird about that girl," said Harry to Ron. Ron nodded.

Professor Binns's class was even more boring than ever. Not even Hermione was taking notes. She and Lauren were busy talking.

Suddenly, the two girls burst out laughing. "What, I ask, is so funny about millions of goblins dying in the Goblin/Wizard War of 1511?"

"Nothing, Professor."

"Then why were you two girls laughing?"

"We were just thinking about a joke we heard once about goblins," Hermione said quickly.

"This class is hardly a class for joking." Unlike Snape usually did, Professor Binns did not take away any points from Gryffindor, or give detentions. He just went back to his speech.

The next class was a bit more interesting. Professor Flitwick was so small he had to stand on a pile of spell books to see properly over his desk. He talked a lot about how difficult the charms that they were going to learn this year were. By the time he was finished, it was time for class to be over.

"That was an easy day," said Ron, as they walked out of Charms.

The three others all nodded and walked back up to Gryffindor Tower.

The next day's lessons included Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy at midnight.

"Hagrid's a nice guy; you'll like him," Harry told Lauren, as she followed him, Ron and Hermione out to Hagrid's hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

Hagrid was a very large man, half-giant, actually, who had very bushy black hair and beard and small black eyes. He smiled at Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

"Hey, how yeh guys been?" said Hagrid. "And who are you?"

"This is Lauren, Hagrid. She's a new student," said Hermione.

"Pleased to meet yeh," said Hagrid.

Harry groaned loudly at the people who had just shown up for class, Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherins.

"I don't know if I can stand another year of him," said Malfoy, talking about Hagrid.

"Don't know if we can stand another year of you, Malfoy," Lauren said bravely.

Malfoy glared at her, but kept his big mouth shut.

"Wish I knew that spell to turn him into a ferret myself," Lauren said, loudly enough for Malfoy to hear.

Malfoy looked at her suspiciously. "I suppose your friends have told you everything, have they?" he said. "Well, don't let them fool you. They've been in trouble, too. And they…"

"Shut up already, okay? No one wants to hear you." Malfoy wasn't the only one staring at her now. Harry, Ron, and most of the Gryffindors were, too.

Hagrid called the class's attention. "I thought we'd start righ' in on Skittles today," he began.

"Skittles?" everyone said, taking their eyes off Malfoy and Lauren and the brawl that was about to break out between them.

Hagrid pulled a large crate out from the side of the house. Hagrid picked one of the Skittles out of the box. It looked like a red rock. "Don't be fooled by these critters," said Hagrid. "They may look harmless, but they have a nasty bite."

"What do they _do_?" asked Malfoy.

"I'm getting to that," Hagrid said impatiently. "These guys are very useful for digging. They may not look like diggers, but if yeh put them on the ground, they will pull out their digging scoop 'n start digging. Very useful for gardening 'n things like that."

Everyone scrambled up to the crate and picked a Skittle out of the box. Harry picked up a Skittle that was purple and put it on the ground. It immediately stuck out its digging limb, which looked a lot like a serving spoon, and began to dig a hole in the soft earth.

"Make sure yeh pick 'em up before they dig too deep yeh can't get 'em," said Hagrid.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Malfoy's black Skittle digging a hole which was surely was too deep for Malfoy's arm.

At the end of the class, only a few Slytherin Skittles had managed to escape their caretakers. Hermione quickly did a levitation spell to get them out, and brought them back to Hagrid's crate.

"Let's go to sleep early tonight," suggested Hermione. "We have Astronomy at midnight, and it's better to get a few hours sleep before we go." So after dinner, Hermione, Lauren, Harry, and Ron went up to the common room to sleep. They slept until ten thirty, then went down to the common room. Harry and Ron were still there.

Soon, they walked up to the highest tower in the castle, where Professor Sinistra told them about stars, constellations and planets. After the lesson, they went back to bed.

Harry woke up the next morning with a giant yawn and went down to the Great Hall with Ron.

"Hey everyone!" he said cheerily as the two of them walked up to the Gryffindor table.

Hermione and Lauren nodded sleepily.

"Our first Transfiguration lesson is today," Hermione said, looking at her schedule. "Then Herbology."

"With the Hufflepuffs," finished Ron.

"Yeah," said Hermione.

Harry sighed and muttered, "Of course, no classes with Ravenclaw."

"What?" Ron said, stuffing his face with toast.

"Nothing!" Harry said quickly.

Soon it was time for Transfiguration. The group walked to Professor McGonagall's classroom.

"Hello class!" said Professor McGonagall. She looked down at her roster. "Yes, I believe everyone is here. Lauren, is it? I'll add you to the list." She wrote something down on the roster. You might be a bit behind, but no doubt Miss Granger can help you." She smiled at Hermione.

"This year," McGonagall continued, "we will be doing much harder things than ever before. The things we transfigure will be getting bigger. And there will be a lot more work involved." The class groaned.

"Today we will start turning beavers into rocks and back again." She pulled a very large cage out from behind her desk. In it were about ten beavers, all chewing on the metal bars of the cage and smacking each other with their tails.

"Two students to a beaver!" she called, as the class scrambled up to get a biting beaver. There were many "ouches" as the beavers tried to get out of the wizards' hands. Ron and Harry picked up a beaver and carried it back to their table behind Hermione and Lauren.

"Now, what you have to do is touch the beaver with your wand and say, _Beavarius!_" said Professor McGonagall demonstrating. The beaver on her desk turned into a rock. "To change it back, you just say, _Robearus_."

Hermione gently touched the beaver's back with her wand and said, "_Beavarius!_" The brown beaver was now a medium-sized gray rock. "_Robearus!_" she shouted, and the rock became a perfect, though stunned, beaver.

"You try," Hermione said, as Professor McGonagall congratulated her.

"_Beavarius!_" Lauren called out. To everyone's, including her own, surprise, the beaver turned into a brown, furry rock.

"Good for a first try," said Professor McGonagall, "but keep trying until it turns gray and smooth."

"_Robearus!_" The furry brown rock turned back into the beaver.

They kept trying until the end of class. Most students, including Lauren, Harry, and Ron, had successfully transfigured their beavers into rocks and back again. Neville had successfully transfigured his beaver into a perfect rock, but couldn't get the rock back into a beaver. Some students' rocks still had fur or tails, and some beavers were still gray.

Next, the four of them made their way out to the greenhouses for Herbology. Professor Sprout stood outside greenhouse three waiting for them. She was a witch wearing the regular black robes and a green apron over them. There was dirt all over her apron, as well as her hands and face.

"Welcome to another year of Herbology!" she said, smiling at the class. "If you would step into the greenhouse, we can start our first lesson on Venomous Tentaculas." She stepped inside the greenhouse.

"Venomous?" Harry asked.

"Today we will be feeding the Tentaculas," continued Professor Sprout.

"What do we feed them?" asked a Hufflepuff boy, Justin Finch-Fletchly.

"We will feed them bats," said Professor Sprout, pointing to a large cage covered with a black cloak. She pulled off the cloak and we saw about fifty bats flying around crazily.

"Put on your gloves and take a bat. Be careful not to let them loose or they'll be flying all around the greenhouses. When you have a bat, take it over to the Tentacula and shove it in its mouth. Be sure not to let the Tentacula bite you because their poison will make you sick." Professor Sprout demonstrated.

"She makes it look easy," said Ron after the four of them were assigned to a particularly hungry Tentacula. It almost bit Harry on the arm as he threw a bat towards its giant mouth. It looked something like an overgrown Venus flytrap.

After Herbology they were exhausted. They went back to the common room to work on piles and piles of homework. A little while after dinner, they went to bed.

"Today we have double Defense Against the Dark Arts," said Ron, at breakfast, looking at his schedule.

"And we still have no clue who the teacher might be," added Harry sadly.

"Maybe it'll be the real Moody," Lauren said.

"Maybe," said Hermione as the boys stared at her suspiciously.

As they got up to walk towards the classroom, Harry pulled Hermione aside and whispered, "What's with Lauren?"

"Yeah," said Ron, joining in the conversation, "she knows too much. She's starting to creep me out."

"I've spent a lot more time with her then you two have, and I know she's perfectly okay," Hermione defended.

"But how does she know so much?"

"Is that what you're worried about?" asked Hermione, laughing, but they could tell she was a bit nervous. "I told her all that stuff one night in our dorm. It's okay!"

The boys accepted the story and they walked together towards Defense Against the Dark Arts. But the Professor standing behind the desk wasn't Lupin or Moody. She had long silvery blond hair and beautiful eyes. She smiled at Harry as he walked in.


	5. The Big Black Dog

****

Chapter 5: The Big Black Dog

It was Fleur Delacour.

"Hello, Harry," said Fleur casually, but Harry looked at her in amazement.

"You're the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" he said.

"Well, I said I was going to get a job at Hogwarts to improve my English."

"Your English sounds fine!" Ron said dreamily. Harry elbowed him in the ribs. Ron scowled at him.

"Well, I've been working very, very hard on it over the holiday. Professor Dumbledore said he'd be glad to hire me, and I have had much practice with the Dark Arts."

"Aren't you still in school?" asked Hermione.

"No, I am finished with school. Last year was my seventh and I graduated. I am nineteen years old."

"That makes you about the youngest teacher ever," Hermione said knowledgeably.

"Yes, but that is something I can manage well enough," said Fleur. "Now you should sit down because I am going to start the class soon."

The four of them sat at a table in the front of the room. First, Fleur had to take role.

"Let's see. Who do we have here today?" She looked at the front of the room first. "I know this is Harry Potter and his friends…uh…Ron Weasley and, um, Hermione Granger. And next to Hermione is…?"

"Lauren Marshall."

"Right, I see your name here. And you are…?" She pointed to Neville, who was sitting behind Lauren.

"Neville Longbottom."

"Dean Thomas." And so on until she had taken down every name in the class.

"Alright everyone. My name is Professor Delacour. You might recognize me from last year. I was here as the Triwizard Champion from Beauxbatons. Now I will be your teacher this year."

Professor Delacour began to talk about curses and other Dark Arts, but Lauren wasn't listening to her. She was listening to Harry, Ron and Hermione argue about her as if she wasn't even there.

"She can't come tomorrow," Harry was saying.

"I agree with him, Hermione. I mean, Lauren might freak out and tell everybody and stuff," said Ron.

"Oh, please!" said Hermione angrily. "Honestly, Lauren's a perfectly trustworthy person. It's no big deal. She won't tell anyone! I'm sure of it!"

"No, no, that's not what I meant," said Harry quickly. "I mean she can't come unless she has a permission slip, but she said she didn't have one."

Hermione thought quietly for a moment. "Well, then I guess she can't come."

Lauren hung her head sadly. "I don't have a permission slip," she admitted. "Maybe they won't notice since I'm a fifth year and I should have gone before."

"That's true," said Hermione. "Harry, what about your invisibility cloak?"

"If she can't get in she can use the cloak," sighed Harry. Ron shook his head, but didn't say anything.

That night, everyone was sitting in the common room. "Are you sure you don't have anything with your parent's signature on it?" Hermione asked.

"I know I don't have anything… Except…" She dug in her bag until she pulled out a piece of paper.

"What's that?" asked Harry.

"I wrote a letter in History of Magic. I decided to have one of the school owls take it to our mailbox. I put a stamp on it and everything so it looked like it was sent by Muggle post. My parents wrote back, and I had the owl go to their mailbox again and get it. My dad wrote his signature on the bottom."

"Wait," said Harry, "You're Muggle-born?"

"Halfblood." Lauren looked at him, daring him to make a comment.

Hermione picked up the note and read it. At the bottom it said:

__

Love,

Thomas M. Marshall

Oops, sorry. Force of habit!

Love,

Dad

"All we have to do it trace the signature onto a Hogsmeade form. Do we have a spare?"

"I know I don't," Lauren said.

"Spare what?" asked Lavender Brown, who had just come into the room.

"Hogsmeade form."

"I have a Hogsmeade form! Want to copy it?"

"Thanks!" Lauren said grabbing the form from Lavender as she pulled it out of her bag. She traced the form onto a piece of spare parchment, then traced the signature with it.

"We have to get this to Professor McGonagall fast!" said Hermione.

"Thanks, Lavender!" Lauren threw Lavender her form back and raced down the stairs with Hermione and Harry.

Ron groaned, but followed.

They knocked on the office door. Professor McGonagall opened the door. "Yes?"

Hermione pushed Lauren forward. "Well, since there is a Hogsmeade visit tomorrow, I thought I should give you my permission form now," she said. The four of them weren't sure Professor McGonagall would believe the form was real.

"Is that all?" she asked, taking the form and putting it on her desk.

"Yes."

"Then you should go back up to you common room. It's a little late to be walking around school."

They quickly hurried up the corridors, but were stopped by Argus Filch. "What are you four kids doing out at this hour?" He smiled as he asked.

"We were giving something to Professor McGonagall," said Hermione.

"Sure," said Filch. "I believe that. How many times have I heard that excuse?"

"It's not an excuse!" Harry shouted. "You can ask McGonagall! We were in her office."

"You can come to _my_ office, now," said Filch. "Follow me."

All of a sudden, a brick dropped from somewhere above them, narrowly missing Filch. "I'll get you for that, Peeves!" he shouted as the brick crashed on the floor. They used this opportunity to get away from Filch and ran back up to the common room.

The next morning Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Lauren went into Hogsmeade. Lauren really wanted to explore, but the others were more intent on seeing Sirius. Ron kept on mumbling things under his breath to Harry, and Harry kept on replying, "Hermione says it's okay!"

At the end of the road, Harry spotted a large, black dog sitting quietly. When it saw him approaching, it began to wag its tail and barked loudly. It turned around and walked up a steep hill, where there was a cave.

In the cave, the black dog transformed into a man, Sirius Black. He looked very tired and hungry. "We brought you some food," Harry said, taking a parcel out of his bag and giving it to Sirius.

"Thanks!" he said ripping open the package and shoveling down the food.

"So what's been happening?" asked Harry.

"Well, I just came back here. I was with Lupin. He might join me in a little while. You'll probably see him on your next visit. But anyway, we're not really…" He trailed off, looking at Lauren.

"That's our new friend, Lauren," said Hermione.

"Hi," she said nervously.

"Hello," said Sirius. He stopped talking for a while.

Ron said, "Come on, not really what?"

Sirius looked very uncomfortable. "I don't know if I should…"

"It's okay, Sirius," Lauren said, "you can say whatever you want in front of me."

Sirius looked relieved and finished his sentence. "We're not really getting anywhere because of Fudge. Remember all those things Dumbledore told him? Well, he hasn't done anything yet. Voldemort's keeping quiet for a while. No doubt he's doing it to avoid suspicion. Too close to when he was last seen. He's gotta take every one by surprise. But Fudge still has to be ready for him. I wouldn't be surprised if Voldemort was negotiating with the giants or dementors right now."

"My dad tried to convince people," said Ron, "but Fudge just got mad at him. Told him not to spread any more rumors. Almost got fired. No one would believe him."

"We are all trying but the same thing happens to us, too. You may have noticed Dumbledore a little discouraged lately. He was very angry at Fudge."

"So that's why he never smiles anymore!" Hermione said. "But there's something else I've been meaning to ask," she continued. "What happened to the real Moody?"

"Dumbledore sent him to go convince people, the same thing that I'm doing, but he has the same effect. No one wants to believe the Dark Lord has come back. They are all too scared that what happened years ago can happen again."

Suddenly, Harry looked around the cave. "Hey!" he exclaimed. Where's Buckbeak?"

"I left him with Lupin. He has a little cabin. Buckbeak needed to be outside more."

"Uh, Sirius," Ron said, "do you know what Professor Dumbledore asked Snape to do before?"

"I'm not sure. I know Snape was a Death Eater, so maybe Dumbledore asked him to be a spy."

"Snape was preoccupied. Remember when Neville's potion exploded? He didn't even do anything about it!" said Ron.

"But isn't You-Know-Who's smart enough to know when someone is not being true to him?" asked Hermione.

"Well, that's why it's such a big risk to be a spy, Hermione," said Sirius. "Is everything going okay at school? And how was your summer, Harry?"

"School's fine. But how come you didn't write to me?"

"I'm sorry. I should have told you. I was at Lupin's. It's very far away from here, too far for an owl. I didn't think you should put Hedwig through that."

"And one more thing…" Hermione said. "Do you know why I didn't get the_ Daily Prophet_?"

"Who knows?" said Sirius. "Maybe they just don't deliver it to Muggles."

Hermione frowned.

"Hey, Hermione, that reminds me," Ron put in. "What did you do with Rita Skeeter?"

Rita Skeeter was an annoying reported for the _Daily Prophet_ who had embarrassed Harry and Hermione in the paper.

"I let her out once we got to London. I was getting the paper to see if she had written anything, but I never once got it."

"Something sounds strange here. I'd watch out if I were you four. Be careful!" Sirius warned.

"We should go," said Harry. "Do you want us to keep sending food up here like last year?"

"Sure," said Sirius smiling. He turned into the big black dog again, and walked into the village with them. They walked back to school.

That night, after dinner, Harry and Ron met in their dormitory. "Something is really up with her," Ron was saying. "Hermione trusts her but should she?"

"She seems kind of strange to me," said Harry. "But Hermione does know what she's doing you know."

"People always say it's real easy to get hoodwinked by Dark wizards. Maybe she's a Death Eater or something."

"I don't think so, Ron."

"I do! Come on! She knows so much about us already. Maybe she's just using Hermione to get to you! Maybe she's trying to convert Hermione to the Dark Side."

"I seriously doubt that."

"Sirius said to be careful! We really don't know anything about this girl! Maybe the reason You-Know-Who doesn't appear to be doing anything is because he already is!"

"Maybe you're right; we'd better be careful around this girl. She could be dangerous."

"She could be trying to hurt you."

"We'd better not talk to her anymore. We might be giving her information!"

"But what about Hermione? We'll have to stop talking to her too! They're best friends!"

In the end, the two boys agreed not to talk to either Hermione or Lauren.


	6. The New Quidditch Captain

****

Chapter 6: The New Quidditch Captain 

The next morning the boys avoided the girls at breakfast by sitting with Fred, George and Lee Jordan. The girls seemed a little confused by this at first, but sat down comfortably with Lavender and Parvati.

That afternoon in the common room, Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess when the small, brown haired, gray eyed, boy that was Joey Marshall came up to them.

"Um…Harry…" He looked nervous.

"Yeah?" Harry asked, annoyed. He wasn't talking to Lauren, and he shouldn't talk to her brother either.

"Can I…can I…can I borrow your invisibility cloak?" He spoke the last words very fast.

Harry looked at Ron, then back at Joey. "How did you know I had an invisibility cloak?"

It looked as if Joey had not anticipated this question. "Lauren told me," he said quickly. This could be true, Hermione had brought up the cloak in front of Lauren once.

"You can't borrow it," Harry snapped. Joey frowned and walked slowly away from the table.

"Wonder what that was all about," said Ron, taking Harry's queen.

Days later, Hermione left Lauren with Lavender and Parvati, and walked over to where the boys were sitting at dinner. "Hi!" she said, but the boys didn't answer. They kept on talking about Quidditch with the twins.

"Why are you guys avoiding us?" Hermione asked. She looked hurt.

Harry didn't like to exclude Hermione just because of her new friend. "Let's tell her, Ron," he said.

"Okay," agreed Ron. "Meet us in the common room at one o'clock in the morning. Don't bring Lauren."

Hermione nodded and went back to the girls.

"McGonagall says that we have the field tomorrow morning," George said.

"But who's going to be the new captain?" asked Fred.

"How about Angelina?" said Harry. "She's the oldest."

"No way!" said Angelina, coming over. "I don't want to be the Quidditch captain!"

"Not me," said George and Fred at the same time.

"I don't want to have that much work," said Katie Bell, who came over with Alicia.

"I hate work!" said Alicia.

Everyone on the team looked at Harry.

"I guess," Harry said slowly. The crowd of Gryiffindors cheered.

"That means you'll have to pick a new team member, Harry," said Fred.

"I do?" said Harry. He groaned. Ron was sitting next to him looking hopeful. "Alright, Ron, I guess you can try," said Harry. He looked down the table. "Anyone else?"

No one said anything for a moment, but then Lauren said, "Sure, I will."

"Another plot?" Ron whispered to Harry.

"Everyone meet me on the Quidditch field tomorrow morning. Which ever one is best will be the new Keeper."

That morning at one o'clock, Hermione, Harry, and Ron made their way down to the deserted common room. "What do you want?" Hermione asked.

"The reason we've been avoiding you is Lauren," Harry said shortly.

"What? Why?"

"Hermione, that girl obviously has some Dark stuff in her. She's trying to do something to Harry. I just know it," Ron stated.

"What makes you say that?"

"Oh, come on! She knows too much. It's like she's been here for years, but she has only been here for two weeks. She pretends to be from a Muggle family, but she knows a whole lot of magic. You can't tell me there's not something screwy there!"

Hermione didn't say anything for a while. "I don't know why you two are being so paranoid. I think we can trust Lauren. I mean, honestly, you don't think You-Know-Who's going to dress up as a teenage girl, do you?"

Ron and Harry shook their heads. "I guess not," Ron said. 

"Besides," Hermione said, "I think Oak Hill is a wizard school-" She stopped abruptly.

Someone was coming down the stairs. It was Lauren.

"Oh, there you are Hermione. I woke up and you were gone." Lauren sat down with them. They suddenly heard something creak.

"What was that?" Ron gasped.

"I don't know," said Lauren.

"The cloak!" Harry said. "Joey wanted my cloak!"

"Joey wanted your cloak? What for?" Lauren asked.

"He didn't say. Just said he wanted to borrow it."

"Have you seen it since he asked?" Lauren asked urgently.

"No, haven't needed it all year."

"Go check and see if it's still there! Hurry!"

Harry rushed up to the common room. He dug in his trunk but the cloak was not there. Harry rushed back to the common room. "It's gone!" he gasped.

"Let's see if Joey is in his room," said Ron. He tiptoed into the room that said First Years. Harry followed. Joey was not in his bed.

"He's not there," Ron reported.

"We have to find him! I don't want him to get in trouble!" Lauren climbed out of the portrait hole.

"We're the ones who are going to get in trouble!" Ron said, following the others out.

The four of them wandered down the halls in search of Joey. When they got to the marble staircase, they split up. Harry went down, Lauren and Hermione went left, and Ron went right.

Harry tried to walk as silently as possible. He looked around with his lighted wand. "Joey!" he called softly. "Joey, come out from under the cloak!" But no one ever answered him.

In an hour, the Ron and Harry met where they had separated. "Did you find anything?" Ron asked.

"Not a thing," Harry answered. Suddenly, they heard footsteps again and saw Lauren and Hermione running up the stairs.

"Follow us!" Hermione shouted. "We heard his footsteps up the stairs!" Harry and Ron ran along behind the girls.

They chased the invisible being for over and hour, stopping every now and then to make sure they could still hear his footsteps.

"What is he doing out at this time of night?" Lauren asked.

No one answered. She didn't expect them to.

Finally, they stopped at the entrance to Gryiffindor Tower. They had lost the sound. They climbed inside the portrait hole and went to bed.

The next morning, Hermione put a powerful spell on Harry's trunk, where the invisibility cloak had been carefully put back. "Let's see him try to get through that!" she said, placing her wand back into her pocket.

Harry was about to dawdle down to breakfast when he remembered something. "Quidditch!" he exclaimed. "We're supposed to be at practice!" The four of them rushed down to the Quidditch field, where it had been completely restored from its hedge maze last year.

Hermione sat in the stands, but Ron and Lauren followed Harry into the locker rooms. The other team members were already there.

"Nice of you to show up, Harry," Fred said, smiling. George yawned.

"Sorry," said Harry. "There were a few problems last night." He looked over at Ron and Lauren.

"Well," Harry continued, "I'm not really good at giving speeches…'

"Wood wasn't either," corrected George. The rest of the team laughed.

"I really don't know why you guys all picked me to be captain. I don't really know what to do."

"Oh, come on, Harry! You're great at Quidditch!" said Angelina.

"Well, I know one thing," said Harry. "The first thing we have to do is pick a new Keeper. Now, let's all go out onto the field. You guys can try to shoot goals on our new players. Let's see how much we remember from two years ago."

The team crowded out onto the field. They all flew into the air on their broomsticks. Harry loved the sensation. He hadn't flow since last year. It felt great to be back on a broom. Harry flew a few laps around the field, and everyone followed along. Then Harry flew down to the ground to release the balls.

He threw the red Quaffle to a low-soaring Katie, who caught it and flew into the air again, passing it to Alicia on the way. Then Harry took out the two Bludgers. They immediately flew off into the sky, and Fred and George, the Beaters, streaked after them. Then, Harry left the ground and pushed off back into the sky. He left the tiny golden Snitch in the box for later.

Harry flew up beside the three large hoops at the end of the field. "Alright!" he called, and everyone soared over to him. "I want you to take shots at these guys." He pointed to Ron, who was riding a school broom. "Where's Lauren?"

She was on the ground, looking skeptically at her broomstick. "What's up?" asked Harry, flying down to her.

"Oh, nothing. I've never ridden a broom before."

"It's easy," said Harry, getting off his broom. "You mount it like this." He demonstrated. Lauren did it, too. "Now kick off!" Harry ordered. They both kicked and flew into the air.

Harry flew back up to the other members of the team while Lauren took a few laps. "Ron, you can go first. Lauren can get used to her broom. Everyone else, I want you to play just as it was a Slytherin Keeper. Don't go easy on him. Then I can't see how good he is. Go!" he shouted, and the team flew into action.

The Chasers flew around the field, passing the ball to each other, trying to make a goal on Ron. Harry hovered above the goal, to watch Ron. Lauren circled around the field.

A Blugder streaked past Ron's ear, narrowly missing him. "Hey!" he shouted at Fred, who zoomed past his brother and beat the Bludger back towards the Quaffle-holder.

"He said play like it was Slytherin!" he called, whizzing back towards the Bludger.

Ron blocked most of the shots made on him by Alicia, Katie, and Angelina. Harry blew the whistle. "Okay!" he said. "Now Lauren, why don't you try."

Lauren knew she didn't have a chance. She had no experience on a broom, or playing Quidditch. It was a lot harder then it seemed. She missed most of the shots.

"Sorry, Lauren," Harry said, once they were down on the ground again.

"I didn't have much of a chance anyway," said Lauren, smiling. Ron was happy. He was now on the Quidditch team.

Hermione joined them on the way back to the Great Hall. "The next thing I'm going to do is change the practice times," said Harry, yawning. The others laughed.

When Harry and Ron got back into their dormitory after their homework was done that night, Harry's trunk was opened, and its contents were spread across the room.

"I reckon it wasn't Ginny searching for her diary," Ron said, eyeing the mess.

Harry frowned, then ran back to the common room to tell Hermione and Lauren.

"Maybe he hasn't left yet," said Lauren hopefully. They looked around the common room, but did not see Joey.

"Why don't we go look in his dormitory?" asked Hermione. Harry offered to do this. He crept up the stairs. When he got to the door, he saw it open. Joey was coming out in the invisibility cloak! Joey must have seen Harry, because he started running down the stairs. Harry could hear him. When he ran past the others in the common room, they followed.

Finally, Joey looked over his shoulder. He was somewhere on the first floor. He couldn't see anyone else, so he began to walk toward his destination. Since no one was trailing him, he could walk loudly as he pleased, and he did.

Harry, Lauren, Ron, and Hermione rounded the corner Joey had just taken. They kept fair distance from him so he wouldn't know they were there. But they could still hear him.

They heard footsteps down the stone stairs that led to the dungeons. "Where is he going?" asked Hermione.

"Do you think he wants to see Professor Snape or something?" Ron added sarcastically.

They kept following him. He was walking along a dimly lit corridor. Harry recognized it, but didn't think he had ever been there before. Suddenly he remembered.

"Think Joey is still friends with that Slytherin boy?" he asked. "Because this is the way to their common room. Remember, Ron?"

"So that's why this place looked familiar!" Ron whispered. In the hall ahead, they saw a stone moving aside for Joey as he crawled into the Slytherin common room.

"Uh, oh!" said Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lauren at the same time. They rushed to the door. Thinking quickly, Hermione pulled out her wand and put it in between the door and the wall. The door closed on the wand, and it stayed slightly ajar. It was opened enough for the four Gryffindors to see inside.

Through the crack in the door, they saw Joey taking off his invisibility cloak. The common room looked the same as the one in Gryffindor Tower, but it was colder and darker down in the dungeons. The fire was almost out, and it was hard to see.

The common room was deserted except for Joey's friend, Scott Malfoy. Scott and Joey sat down at one of the tables and were playing together.

"What are they doing?" asked Ron, outraged that any Gryffindor would even talk to a Slytherin.

"Looks like they've been meeting in secret for a while," said Lauren.

Neither of the first years seemed to notice there were five people watching them. They played all night, laughing quietly, and talking to each other. Harry had fallen asleep.

It looked like Joey was about to, too, and he put on the invisibility cloak again and walked toward the door. Hermione said, "Hey! He's leaving! We'd better run!" She tried to pull her wand from the door, but the stone was heavy and it wouldn't budge.

"Hurry, Hermione!" said Ron, excitedly, peeking through the door. Hermione pulled her wand from the door, but it was too late.

"Lauren? Hermione? Harry? Ron? What are you guys doing here?" came a voice. Suddenly, the face of Joey Marshall appeared in the door.

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here?" shouted Ron. The noise attracted Scott, who came over.

"I think we're in trouble," said Joey, looking at Scott.

"Come on, Joey. Let's go before anything else happens," encouraged Lauren. Someone else was awake and was coming to the door. It was Draco Malfoy.

"Scott, why are you hanging out with _him_?" Malfoy asked.

"He's my friend!" Scott argued.

"Not anymore," said Malfoy. "Never talk to him again!"

Scott looked down at the ground, a frown on his face.

"You can't tell him what he can and can't do, Malfoy!" yelled Harry.

"Neither can you!" Malfoy retorted.

No one could think of anything to say to this. Meanwhile, Joey was putting on the invisibility cloak and trying to get away.

"Oh, no you don't!" said Malfoy. "_Stupefy!_"

"Joey!" Lauren cried, as Joey was frozen on the spot.

"You want to fight? You'll have to fight all of us," growled Ron.

"What's going on here?" It was Professor Snape. "Out for another midnight stroll, are we, Potter?"

No one said anything. They knew they couldn't think of an excuse to be in the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Potter's little friend was trying to attack my cousin," said Malfoy. "There he is in the invisibility cloak. He was trying to get away, so I stupefied him. Then they all ganged up on me."

"Cousin?" whispered Harry.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor. There shall be no more sneaking out at night. Potter, you have been warned every year. Next time it happens, don't doubt that you will be expelled." Snape walked back down the corridor.

Hermione quickly did the counter curse on Joey, then the five of them walked back up to the common room, and to bed.


	7. Halloween Kidnapping

****

Chapter 7: Halloween Kidnapping

The next morning, at breakfast, the four were depressed and weren't talking much. Joey sat with them. He had returned the invisibility cloak and apologized for stealing it. Now he didn't need it anymore.

A small boy appeared behind him. "Hey, Joey," he said nervously. It was Scott Malfoy.

"What do you want?" asked Harry, but Joey was not so rude.

"Hey, Scott."

"Listen, I'm sorry about my cousin, Draco. He didn't mean to get you in trouble."

"Malfoy? Not meaning to get us in trouble? That's a good one!" said Ron.

"What are you talking about?" asked Scott, sitting down at the table so Draco wouldn't see him standing there.

"Your cousin is always trying to get us in trouble. He hates us," explained Harry.

"Oh, no, he doesn't hate you! It was Professor Snape who got you in trouble."

"Yeah, but we wouldn't have gotten in so much trouble if he hadn't made up all those things about us attacking you," Lauren said.

"He hasn't liked us since he met us!" added Hermione.

"I see what you mean. But he's not going to stop us from seeing each other, right, Joey?" said Scott.

"No way!" answered Joey. "But let's not go sneaking around at night anymore. I don't want to loose anymore points. And I don't want to get caught by Professor Snape again."

"Okay!" The two boys started making plans about how they would meet, and soon went off to the library together.

"I'm glad they agreed not to go sneaking off at night anymore," said Harry, "I don't want to get in any more trouble."

"I don't think we've heard the last of it though," said Hermione. "Those boys aren't in a very safe relationship. The other Slytherins and Gryffindors aren't going to like it."

"Well, I don't care as long as they keep us out of it," said Ron. "'Potter, you have been warned every year. Next time it happens, don't doubt that you will be expelled.' And don't doubt he'll do anything to make it happen, either."

"You guys worry too much. They'll work it out," said Lauren.

"You haven't been through some of the stuff we've been through," said Harry. 

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Harry sighed. "Come on, let's go to class."

It was Potions time, and the four walked down to the dungeons. Professor Snape was telling them how to make a potion to cure many magical ailments that were made by spells. Then he put a simple spell on each of them, had them drink their potion, and see what happened. Neville ended up the class with large boils on his face, because his potion hadn't worked, and had to go up to the hospital wing. Everyone else did fine, although Harry's potion did bubble a bit more than everyone else's did, and a bit of the green concoction landed on his robes. This earned him some rude comments from the Slytherins, including Malfoy, who was already happy that he had taken fifty points from Gryffindor the night before.

The weeks passed, and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Harry had gotten a letter from Sirius saying that he was going back to Lupin's for a while. Harry would not be able to reach him there, since it was so far away. He was a little worried about Sirius being out of contact, but Sirius assured him that he would be back soon. Harry would have asked what he was doing, but Sirius had told him not to respond because he would already be gone.

Malfoy had not been bothering them too much lately. They hadn't sneaked out to the Slytherin common room again, and therefore hadn't gotten in trouble, so he didn't have anything to tease them about besides the usual. He still hadn't gotten wind of the fact that Lauren was a Muggle, because that certainly would have been one of the new things he could tease them about.

Hermione had begun receiving the _Daily Prophet _again. In her first issue, she received a letter apologizing for the fact that they weren't permitted to deliver the paper to Muggle neighborhoods. Hermione didn't really need the paper to check up on Rita Skeeter anymore, but she liked to read about what was going on in the wizarding world outside of Hogwarts. There was nothing out of the ordinary in the newspaper either. No news about Lord Voldemort or the Death Eaters. They took this as a good sign.

The day of Halloween, the four were sitting in the common room doing homework.

"I'm sick of working. Let's go down to the feast! I'm starving," said Ron.

"Too bad it doesn't start for another hour," stated Hermione. Ron sighed heavily and his stomach growled. They decided to go downstairs anyway.

There were many people in the entranceway. They were waiting for the feast, too. But the doors to the Great Hall were closed. The teachers were not letting them in early, no matter how hungry they were.

Suddenly, Peeves swooped down the hallway. "Ah, time for the Halloween feastie? Halloween is my favorite time of year." He cackled nastily. No one paid any attention to him. Peeves didn't like being ignored. He went into the Great Hall, through the doors, and opened them from the inside.

No one knew it was Peeves who had opened the door, so they began to file into the Great Hall and sat down. It was decorated for Halloween as usual. There were eight huge jack-o-lanterns scattered around, plenty of live bats flying around, and scary skeletons in the room. The enchanted ceiling made it look even better, because it was getting stormy, and there were flashes of lightning in the distance.

The teachers looked surprised at all the students coming into the room, but they decided it was too late to chase them all out again, so they started the feast. The golden plates and goblets filled with food, and they began to eat.

When everyone had eaten their share, the plates were clean again, and they were dismissed. The Gryffindors started back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I wonder where Joey was tonight," Lauren said.

"Maybe he sat with the Slytherins," Ron suggested.

"Oh, yeah, that would go over well with Malfoy," said Harry.

The next day, Joey wasn't at breakfast either. "I didn't see Scott at his table either," said Hermione. "Maybe the two of them ran off somewhere to eat together."

"That's probably it," said Lauren. But she didn't see Joey all that day. He wasn't in the common room after dinner.

"I'm getting worried. Maybe he's sick or something. We should look for him." Lauren convinced Harry, Ron, and Hermione to look with her. They searched the Great Hall, the dungeons near the Slytherin common room, the hospital wing, and the first year boys' dormitory. They didn't see Joey anywhere.

In the middle of the night, Lauren sneaked out of her dormitory and across the common room to Joey's dormitory. Joey was not there. She woke up Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They could all tell she was very worried, so they agreed to help her look for him.

"Oh, no, you shouldn't Harry," Hermione said. "Remember what Professor Snape said."

"How many times has he said that to me since I've been here? Come on, I won't get caught. We could wear the invisibility cloak."

"Slight problem, Harry," said Ron. "The cloak won't cover four people."

"Then we'll bring it just in case. If we hear someone coming, we'll hide. Maybe we can all fit if we stand still." So it was agreed that they would all go and look for Joey. It was too dangerous to split up, so they all walked together. Harry safely tucked the cloak in his pocket.

They were about to give up when they heard footsteps. The other person was trying to be quiet, too, so by the time they heard the steps, they knew it was too late. They would be caught. Harry's heart was beating hard. Supposed Snape really was serious about him being expelled? What would happen then?

The person turned the corner. It was Draco Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?" the five of them whispered.

"None of your business," said Malfoy. "But you shouldn't be sneaking around at night, Potter. Don't want to get expelled, do you?"

"You're sneaking around too, Malfoy. If you turn us in, we'll turn you in," said Ron.

Malfoy didn't say anything for a while, but after a few minutes had gone by, he said, "Oh, alright, if you must know, I'm looking for my cousin. So go back to your business now, and I'll go back to mine."

"I told you they ran off together," said Hermione.

"Is your little friend gone, too? Well, I know they wouldn't be together, because I told Scott not to hang out with friends of Potter's."

"Is that right?" said Lauren. "Because if you did, then he must not listen to you, because they've been meeting every day since you got us caught."

They couldn't see Malfoy's face in the dark, but they knew he must have been looking livid.

"Hey, I have another idea on where they could be!" said Harry suddenly. "Let's go. Malfoy can probably find his stupid cousin all by himself!" The four of them began to walk down the hall. They heard footsteps. Malfoy was still following them!

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron asked impatiently.

"You know where my cousin is. I'm following you," said Malfoy.

"No w-" started Ron, but Lauren broke in.

"Fine, but if you follow us, you can't get us into trouble for sneaking out."

"Done," said Malfoy.

They walked on in silence, except for Ron's occasional grumbling. Harry was leading them around the school. They looked out on the grounds, and in the halls. The two boys were no where to be found.

"We've looked in this hall twice already, Harry," said Ron. "Let's give up!"

"No!" said Lauren and Malfoy.

"I'll search all night if I have to," said Lauren. They kept walking.

Hours later, while walking on the first floor, Hermione suddenly had an idea. "Guys! Where did we meet when we wanted to be alone?" she asked excitedly.

"Moaning Myrtle!" Harry said. 

Ron looked at her skeptically. "How would they know about that?" he asked.

"It's worth a shot," Harry replied. "It's the only place we haven't looked yet." He quickened the pace towards the girls' bathroom.

When they got to the familiar "out of order" sign, Harry pushed the door open. "What?" said Malfoy. "That's a girls' bathroom, Potter!"

"We know what we're doing, Malfoy! For once in your life, shut up!" Ron said angrily. Malfoy did and followed them into the bathroom.

Moaning Myrtle was sitting in her toilet stall. "Oh! More visitors!" she said, happily for a ghost.

"Hi, Myrtle," said Harry. "What do you mean more?"

"Two boys and a man came in here a while ago. It was strange, though. They never came out!"

"What did they do?" asked Hermione.

"When they came in, I heard the man talking. This is a girls' toilet, so I wanted to see what they were doing. Then they went to the same place you went three years ago."

Harry's eyes grew wide. "They could be in trouble!" he shouted. They went over to the sink, where there was a small snake carved into one of the faucets. Harry looked at it, trying to pretend it was real. "Open up!" he said. Malfoy smiled. Nothing happened. "Open up!" he said again. Only English came out, not Parseltongue, the language of the snakes.

Malfoy laughed at Harry's failure. "What are you trying to do?" he asked, laughing again.

"It only opens when I speak Parseltongue, but it's been a while, and it works better when the snakes are real," said Harry. It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that Harry could speak to snakes, a power that was common among Dark wizards.

"Is that all?" said Malfoy, amused. "_Open up_," he hissed.

Harry looked at him in amazement. "You're a Parselmouth?"

Malfoy scowled. "A talent I intend to keep quiet, Potter." It was a threat.

All five of them slid down into the Chamber of Secrets. They walked along the corridor. It was very dark, damp, and much the same as the last time Harry had seen it. So very much the same, in fact, that they soon came to a large stone wall, where it looked like the tunnel had caved in. There was a small hole in the rock. Unfortunately, the hole had been made to fit Harry and Ginny three years ago. He had grown considerably since then, and now could not fit through the hole. They would have to remove the rock.

"This could take forever!" exclaimed Ron, thinking about how long it had taken him to make that miniature hole.

"Wait!" said Harry. "I remember something from the third Triwizard task! _Reducto!_" The spell blasted a small hole in the rock. The five of them crawled through, and the hole disappeared.

"Now what?" asked Lauren. "We have no idea where they are or what we'll meet when we get there. They weren't alone."

"Nothing can be worse than a basilisk, and I've killed it," said Harry.

"What are you talking about?" asked Malfoy.

"This is the Chamber of Secrets, Malfoy. Remember three years ago, when Ginny got taken down here? I went to get her."

"Always trying to be the hero," muttered Malfoy. Harry ignored him and kept walking.

At the end of the dark passageway, they came to a huge stone wall. There were two snakes on the wall, their eyes both made of emeralds.

Harry remembered these doors from before, and what he had done to make them open. "_Open up_," he said, and this time it came out as a low hiss. The wall cracked open, and the five of them walked inside.

The room they were now standing in was slightly brighter than the hallway. It was supported with pillars carved with more of the same snakes that were on the door, except these didn't have emeralds in their eyes. At the end of the chamber was a statue of Salazar Slytherin himself. But there was no Ginny lying unconcious beneath it this time, no Tom Riddle standing by the pillar. In fact, there was nothing. No boys, no mysterious man.

"Where'd they go? They can't have left! Myrtle would have seen them!" Hermione gasped.

"There's another place in this Chamber where they could have gone," said Harry. "The place where the basilisk came out." He pointed to the statue of Salazar Slytherin. "Tom Riddle just said some stuff and its mouth opened up."

"Well say it, then!" instructed Malfoy.

Harry hesitated and looked up at Salazar Slytherin's statue. It didn't look like a real snake; it didn't look like a snake at all. "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four," Harry said, but it had been English. Nothing had happened.

Malfoy took over. "_Speak to me Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four_." The mouth of the statue opened wide. No basilisk crawled out, instead, a dark flight of stone steps descended down into the statue. They all walked down the stairs, not knowing what they would see at the bottom.

At the bottom of the long, dark stairs was another chamber. It was almost identical to the first, except it was a bit smaller and darker, and had snakeskin lining the floor. At the end of the room, Joey and Scott were tied to a pillar.

Lauren and Malfoy ran over to the boys and untied them. "We have to get out of here!" Joey cried. "That guy will be back any minute!"

"Who was that guy?" asked Harry.

"Dunno," said Scott, "He wore a cloak with a hood, so we couldn't see what he looked like."

"Bet it was Lord Voldemort," said Harry, not thinking about whose presence he was in.

"Why would the Dark Lord kidnap a pureblood Slytherin whose uncle is a Death Eater?" Ron said without thinking either.

Malfoy turned on the spot. "Why, you…"

"Don't even try to deny it!" Ron shouted. "We all know your dad's a Death Eater! There's no point in trying to hide it!"

"Fine," said Malfoy. "I don't deny it. My dad's a Death Eater. But you'd better not tell anyone else or I'll get you, Weasley."

"Yeah, right! Help, Harry! I'm so scared!"

Malfoy lunged at Ron, and soon they were fully involved in a fistfight.

"Stop it!" screamed Hermione. "Fighting won't solve anything! We have to get out of here before whoever that guy is comes back!"

"It's a little too late for that," came an all too familiar voice. A cloaked man walked out of the shadows by the stairs. He removed his hood.


	8. Malfoy's Secret

****

Chapter 8: Malfoy's Secret

It was Wormtail.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron pulled out their wands. Malfoy and Lauren, of course, had no idea who Wormtail was, but seeing the other four pull out their wands, they pulled out theirs, too.

"You kids are no match for me. I have two wands," Wormtail said. He held out Joey and Scott's wands, which he had taken from them so they couldn't escape.

"Only two?" said Harry. "Where is your wand?" He was stalling for time to think of how to get away.

"My master doesn't trust- I mean that's none of your business!" Wormtail said very timidly.

"What should we do, Harry?" whispered Hermione.

"We've gotta get out of here!" said Lauren. "We don't know what he's got up his sleeve!"

"_Slumberia_!" Harry shouted.

At the same time, Wormtail had yelled, "_Bindio_!" Ropes shot out of his wand and tied up Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lauren, Malfoy, Scott, and Joey at the same time he was fast asleep.

"Great job, Potter," Malfoy said sarcastically, looking at his bonds, but his tone instantly changed. "So what now?"

"I don't know. We have to try to get out, but I can't reach my wand." Harry's wand was lying a few feet away. Everyone else's wand had dropped to the ground and rolled away, too.

"We're helpless until Wormtail wakes up and decided what to do with us," Hermione pointed out.

"Wormtail?" asked Malfoy. Everyone knew about Wormtail except for the Marshalls and the Malfoys.

"That guy- he's Peter Pettigrew. Also known as Wormtail," explained Ron.

"I still don't get it," said Malfoy.

"You wouldn't," mumbled Ron. Hermione glared at him.

"I think we owe everyone an explanation," she said. And so the tale began. It was surprising that, as close as the Malfoys were said to be to Voldemort, Malfoy knew barely anything about what had happened in the last 15 years.

They started at the beginning. Started telling him about the night Harry's parents were killed. They told him what Sirius had told them about what had really happened to Peter Pettigrew. They told him about meeting Voldemort in the first year at Hogwarts via Professor Quirrel. They told him about Tom Riddle's diary in the second year, Sirius's return in the third year, and the portkey Triwizard Cup last year. At last, they told him all that had been going on this year, including the strange happenings over the summer and Lauren being a Halfblood, and Lauren being a Muggle.

At the end of telling Malfoy all this information, shortened of course, the seven students sat in silence. They did not know what to expect, only that Wormtail would be waking up shortly. Malfoy hadn't said anything since the beginning of the tale, not even a rude comment. Now he spoke.

"I have an idea."

Everyone looked at him questioningly.

"When he wakes up, what we have to do is stall for time while we think of how to get our wands back. He doesn't sound that bright from what you guys said. We could trick him pretty easily."

"Yeah, that'll be real easy. 'Hey, Wormtail! Give us our wands back!' 'Oh, yes, master!' That'll work great!" said Ron.

"Ron! If you would just stop arguing with him! He may have a point," reasoned Hermione.

"Okay, Hermione. In case you haven't noticed… Malfoy's the one who tries to get us in trouble every other day, calls you a Mudblood, makes fun of my family, tries to get Harry expelled, or worse, is a Slytherin, a Parselmouth, and has a father who's a Death Eater! He can't be trusted! And I'm not gonna stop arguing with him!"

"I can't say you're all wrong about me, but some of those things aren't true!" protested Malfoy.

"Yeah, like what?" Ron asked.

"I never did anything to Harry except trying to get him expelled. I don't know what this 'worse' thing is. And maybe my dad _is_ a Death Eater, but what's that got to do with me?"

"Aren't you the one who tried to get Harry to chase after Sirius in the third year?" asked Ron.

"Well…that was trying to get him expelled. I thought that if he sneaked out of the castle he would be expelled. I didn't think he'd actually catch up with Black. Anyway, even if he had gotten to Black, nothing bad would have happened, would it?"

"Your dad being a Death Eater has a lot to do with you," said Lauren. "He's a big influence on you."

"Hey, look, just because my dad's a Death Eater doesn't mean I agree with everything he does."

This came as a big shock for the other four fifth years. "What?" said Harry incredulously.

"I said I don't agree with all the Dark stuff my dad does."

"Well you sure don't act it!" said Ron.

"My dad told me to keep it a secret, or else, but since you told me all of your secrets, I thought I should tell you that."

The others just stared at him.

"What?" he said. "Is it that strange?"

"Yeah!" said Harry.

"I do believe in some things, though, and I still hate Muggles and Muggle-borns. I just don't like killing other pureblood wizards."

"Like my parents?" Harry questioned.

"Your _father_," answered Malfoy. "But, the Dark Lord can't have all these powerful wizards running around. He's gotta get rid of them some how."

Harry sighed. Malfoy wasn't as bad as they thought, but he still wasn't that good.

"Quiet, guys, he's waking up," warned Lauren. "I say we use Malfoy's plan. Let's hope it works." Wormtail was stirring. He sat up.

"Clever little trick, Potter, but too bad I tied you up first," Wormtail said.

"What do you want with us?" asked Harry. It was a stupid question to ask why Lord Voldemort wanted Harry Potter, but they had to stall him.

"I think you know what my master wants with you, Harry Potter, but as for your friends…bait."

"Bait for what?" Lauren asked. "A giant fish?"

"Very funny, very funny. Potter bait, of course. If Potter's friends are in trouble, Potter always tries to be the hero and save them."

"But why take us?" asked Scott.

"The other boy is Potter's friend's sister. She would get Potter down here to find her brother. I just took you so you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Oh, I wouldn't tell anyone! I am loyal to my master," Scott said, winking at the others.

"Master? Well, you'll be hurt to know that _I_ am master's most loyal servant."

"Oh, I would have tried to find him, but I am too young. I cannot do things like that. I am only eleven years old and have barely any magical learning at all. But I am willing to do anything for my master," Scott continued. "In fact, the only reason I became friends with this boy is because he is close to Harry Potter. We must take revenge on the ones who hurt our master!"

Wormtail stood quiet for a while, thinking. "Your story sounds genuine," he said. "I shall untie you, and let you free, and we can kill the rest later."

"Oh, I can see why you are master's favorite servant," said Scott. "You must save my cousin, too. He is the one who taught me everything I know about the Dark Side."

"Very well," said Wormtail. He untied both Malfoys.

Later in the day, Scott and Draco were both talking to Wormtail, trying to squeeze as much information about him as they could before they escaped that night.

"So what are the Dark Lord's plans for taking over?" asked Malfoy.

"Master keeps those plans a secret. The only person he will tell is me. Master will punish me if I tell you."

"Oh, please! We won't tell anybody! They'll be dead in the morning! We want to know!" pleaded Scott.

"Well, I suppose I can tell you one thing. Master is first planning to… No, I can't. Master will find out. He'll punish me very harshly."

They could see they weren't going to get anything else out of Wormtail. When night came, Scott and Malfoy pretended to walk back up the stairs to their dormitory. When Wormtail was asleep, they came back to untie the rest of the crew.

As they walked up and out of the Chamber, Harry said, "I think we should tell Dumbledore."

"I think Sirius picked a bad time to go back to Lupin's," said Ron.

"We can't do anything about that," said Lauren. "Let's go to Dumbledore."

Harry led the way to Professor Dumbledore's office. When they got to the gargoyle that guarded it, Harry said, "Cockroach Cluster," and it sprang aside to reveal a long flight of stone steps, which they climbed. They walked through a short hallway and knocked on the door. Professor Dumbledore opened the door.

"Sorry to bother you so late, Professor, but we only just got away," started Harry. Dumbledore invited them all inside. As usual, they all started talking at once.

"Why doesn't one of you explain?" asked Dumbledore.

"Okay," said Harry. "I will. On Halloween, Joey was kidnapped by Wormtail. Last night, Hermione, Ron, Lauren, and me tried to look for him. That's when we met Malfoy. He said his cousin was missing, too. So we all teamed up to look for them. We couldn't think of anywhere else, so we...uh.…" Harry paused. 

"Go on," Dumbledore urged.

"Well, we thought we should look in the bathrooms, and when we passed the girls' bathroom on the first floor, that reminded me of the Chamber of Secrets. So we decided to go down there and have a look. Well, we found them. Wormtail had kidnapped them as bait for me. We tried to get him to tell us what his plans were but he wouldn't tell. We finally escaped by those two making up that they were really loyal to Lord Voldemort, and Wormtail let them go. Then they came back and saved us."

Dumbledore thought for a while, taking it all in. "I suggest that you stay in your dormitory at night, instead of wandering around the school. No matter what happens, Harry, you must not chase after Voldemort. He is looking to kill you. You must be careful."

They walked back to Gryffindor Tower, and the Slytherin common room, and went to sleep for the rest of the night.

The next week, everyone who had witnessed those late night events was being very cautious about traveling the school. Lord Voldemort would not be happy that he had been tricked. Wormtail would be back looking for them. They always traveled in groups for protection, and never left the common room at night.


	9. Owls

****

Chapter 9: Owls

Harry woke up early one morning a few days later, and he felt a funny churning and flapping in the pit of his stomach. The first Quidditch game of the season started in three hours, and he was the new captain. This made him even more nervous than in past years because if the team lost, he would feel it was his fault. 

He and Ron went down to breakfast that morning, but neither of them ate much, even though Hermione and Lauren tried to force them to eat. No one else on the team was eating much, either, so Harry called them all down to the field a little early. 

The team got ready then sat down in the locker room to listen to Harry's pre-game speech. "I don't really know what to say except that we've been practicing hard and we're pretty good. We won the cup two years ago; let's see if we can win it again."

The teams went out onto the field. They were playing Ravenclaw. Madame Hooch opened the crate and released the Snitch and the Bludgers. Then she picked up the Quaffle, blew her whistle and the game began.

The first thing Harry noticed, watching his team play, was that Ron wasn't quite as good as Oliver Wood had been. Ravenclaw had grabbed the ball from the throw up and scored right away. It was, luckily, a clear day, so Harry could hear Lee Jordan's commentary as he flew around searching for the Snitch. 

"Oh, another ten points for Ravenclaw. Come on Gryffindor!" Lee called. The score was 30 to 0 now. Finally Angelina caught the ball and scored on the Ravenclaw keeper. "Yes! Nice move, Angelina!" shouted Lee. 

The game had been going on a while now, and it wasn't looking good for Gryffindor. Ravenclaw was up, 90 points to 20. Then suddenly, Harry saw the Snitch. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw Seeker was much closer to it that he was. He'd have no chance of getting there before she did, even on the best racing broom in the wizarding world. So he did the only thing he thought would distract her, a Wronski Feint. Harry dove towards the ground in the opposite direction of the Snitch. Cho, thinking he had seen the Snitch there, dove after him. Harry pulled up right as he was about to hit the ground, hoping Cho wouldn't be able to stop herself. But she must have seen the Quidditch World Cup, too, because she didn't crash as Harry had hoped. However, he had succeeded in leading her away from the Snitch and allowing his team more time. Cheering brought him back to the game.

"Gryffindor scores, taking them to 30 points, and Ravenclaw is still in the lead with 120," Lee announced. Cho grinned at him, and started to fly away. Harry couldn't believe they were so behind. But suddenly he saw the Snitch again. He put on a burst of speed, but Cho was close behind. Harry had to catch it! He didn't want them to lose their first game. He stretched his arm out and caught the tiny ball. 

Madame Hooch blew her whistle and the teams landed. Gryffindor fans were cheering. They had won, 180 points to 120. 

As the weeks passed by, all the gang had to worry about was doing their homework and Quidditch practices. Harry was pushing the team even harder now that he had seen how badly out of practice they were. Another of the foursome's problem was Malfoy. Now that they were away from any immediate danger, he was being perfectly unfriendly again. He was sour about Gryffindor winning the match when they were so close to defeat. He was also giving them very dirty looks in the halls, now, because they knew two of his biggest secrets. He was always threatening them and telling them what he would do if they told. Most of the punishments were not too pleasant.

The next day, Hermione was skimming the _Daily Prophet_ for Ministry news, when another headline caught her eye. "Durmstrang Headmaster Still Missing, Search Party Called Off," she read out loud to Harry, Ron, and Lauren.

"What?" said Harry.

"Igor Karkaroff, the Durmstrang Headmaster, was reported missing last June after the last task in the Triwizard Tournament, which took place at Hogwarts. A search party had been sent out to find his whereabouts after he didn't return to his school at the start of term, September 3. They have searched everywhere, but they have found no sign of Karkaroff. The search party gave up yesterday, after almost two months of searching with no luck," she finished.

"Well we already knew he was missing," said Ron. "He ran away because he was scared of You-Know-Who."

"What are you thinking about, Harry?" asked Lauren, looking at Harry, who appeared to be lost in thought.

"That night in the graveyard," he shuddered, thinking about it, "Voldemort said Karkaroff would pay. Think of the disappearances before. Dumbledore said that they always happened when Voldemort was coming to power the first time. Think about it…Bertha Jorkins, Mr. Crouch, that old Muggle… What if Karkaroff was the next?"

They thought about this for a while, but they had no other information to go by. They did not know if their theory was true or not. They could do nothing.

About two weeks after the Wormtail kidnapping incident, Harry, Ron, Lauren, and Hermione were sitting in the library, poring over books about the original Ministry of Magic for one of their homework assignments. "This is hopeless. I can find who the first head of Department of Magical Games and Sports was," Harry said, shutting _So you want to be the Minister of Magic?_ so loud that it echoed around the empty library. Madame Pince, who hadn't noticed that there were any students left in the library, shooed them away.

"Let's go to bed. It's late." Ron shut _The Book of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Other Departments_ and walked to the door. The others followed him. They walked back up the their common room. It was so late that the common room was completely empty. The boys and girls split and went up to their dormitories to sleep.

Harry crawled into his four poster bed, now changed into his pajamas. He put his glasses on the side table, and it wasn't long before he had dozed off….

"Wormtail, it looks like you have done it again," said a cold, high-pitched voice.

Harry was in that same room again. He had been there twice before in his dreams. It was a dark room, with the fire being the only source of light. There was a large armchair sitting toward the fire, and a short, cowering Wormtail standing by it, whimpering.

"I'm very sorry, My Lord. It will not happen again!" Wormtail cried.

"I believe I've heard that before from you. Again, you have failed to capture Harry Potter. Last time, it could be fixed, but this time… He is watchful of me, Wormtail. Knows I'm after him. It will be hard to get my hands on him again."

"I'm very sorry, My Lord."

"I'll let you off this time, but next time… I might have to find another to take your place…"

"It won't happen again, master! It won't!"

"Very well, then. You did the other task I asked you, then? Karkaroff?"

"Yes, Master, he is dead." Voldemort smiled wickedly.

"And the letters, Wormtail?"

"Uh…." Wormtail looked uncomfortable. "I don't remember any letters, My Lord."

Lord Voldemort sighed heavily. "The letters to the giants and the dementors, Wormtail," he said impatiently.

"Oh, yes, well no, I…"

"You didn't do them? I shall have to do them myself, then. Of course, I suppose it saves time. After all, you would only screw them up anyway." Voldemort got up, walked across the room, sat down a desk in the corner, took some parchment and ink from a drawer in the desk, and began writing.

After a while, Voldemort looked up from his writing. "You do remember the plan, Wormtail?"

"Yes, uh, well, parts of it, My Lord," said Wormtail hopefully.

"How many times will I have to tell you before you remember? As soon as we have word from the dementors, whether they choose to stay loyal or not, we will go to Azkaban, sneak in if we have to, and free everyone who is worth saving."

Wormtail cut in. "Worth saving? I don't understand."

"Prisoners in Azkaban often go crazy. But some can fight it. If they aren't worth saving, we'll just kill them all off."

"Then what, master?"

"Then I replace you," said Voldemort, his voice even colder than usual. "Then I will think of a plan from then, considering what I have to work with. But the giants will be very helpful in any plan. Too bad our Minister is too stupid to realize what I am planning. Dumbledore suspects, though, and we have to be careful of that. He might have already sent word to the giants. But I'm sure I'll be able to offer them more than he can. I predict we'll be showing ourselves off by the summer time. Then we can get Harry while he is out of Dumbledore's protection."

"Ah, that is a very good plan, My Lord. No problems at all!"

"Well, we shall see what responses we get from these letters," Voldemort said, holding up two pieces of parchment, and tying them to two barn owls.

The room suddenly started to get brighter, and Harry realized that it was morning, and the sun was shining in his face. He sat up and put his glasses on, a dull pain in his scar. He had had these kinds of dreams before, but this one made him even more scared than the other two. If what he had seen in the dream was true, the world was in a whole lot of trouble. If Voldemort had all his most loyal servants again, who knows what would happen? The only thing to do now was go to Dumbledore before he forgot.

Ron was sitting up in bed. He saw Harry dressing faster than usual and hurried towards the door. "Why are you in such a hurry?" Ron asked.

"I had another one of those dreams," Harry said. Ron's eyes grew wide and he quickly pulled on some clothes and raced after Harry.

"Where are we going?" asked Ron, catching up.

"Dumbledore's office," Harry said shortly. He began to tell Ron all the details of his dream. Ron flinched every time Voldemort's name was mentioned.

When Harry had reached the point in his dream where he had woken up, Ron said, "Wow, if that's really true, then we've gotta do something before You-Know-Who gets all his power back!"

By this time, they had reached the statue of the gargoyle. Harry said the password, and walked up to Dumbledore's office. No one was there. "Professor?" Harry called, but there was no answer.

They had walked around the office for a while, hoping to run into Dumbledore, when they heard footsteps on the stairs. It was Professor McGonagall. "What are you two doing in here?" she asked sternly.

"We were looking for Professor Dumbledore," said Harry. "Where is he?"

"The Headmaster has been called away on urgent business. Now you two should get on to class."

"But…" Harry started, but Professor McGonagall's look told him that he should follow the order. Then made their way down to the classroom for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"You are late, boys," Fleur said as they entered the room. "But since it is the first time, I will let it go."

Harry and Ron went to their seats. "Where were you guys?" asked Hermione. Harry told her and Lauren about his dream and Professor McGonagall.

"And Dumbledore wasn't there?" asked Lauren. "That's strange. Maybe you should send him an owl."

"I think I should try to send Sirius and owl, too," said Harry. "Lots of strange stuff has been happening and he'd want to know."

"We could try to send a school owl," suggested Hermione. It might take a while, but it will also take a while for the Dementors to get back to You-Know-Who. Maybe Sirius and Lupin can do something about it."

"It's worth a try," said Ron.

After class, the four of them walked up to the owlery. Harry had written two notes. One to Sirius, and one to Dumbledore. Both explained about the dream and Karkaroff, and Sirius's also included the tale of the kidnapping. Harry tied Dumbledore's letter to Hedwig and told her to find him as soon as possible. He attached the letter to Sirius to a school barn owl, and it flew off quickly out the glassless window.

Harry knew the owl was going to take a long time to get to Sirius, but he still could not stop wondering if it would be too late. It was two weeks later, and Dumbledore had not yet returned to the school, or responded to his letter. He was beginning to think the dream he'd had was completely useless. He wondered if he should tell Professor McGonagall about the dream. She'd heard Barty Crouch's confession, and Dumbledore had probably told her about Harry's meeting with Voldemort. But he couldn't be sure she would believe him. In the end, he decided not to tell.

It was at breakfast, three weeks after the letters had been sent that the school owl came into the Great Hall. It was carrying a letter, which it dropped into Harry's lap. Harry gave it a piece of bacon from his plate, and it sped off to the owlery. Harry quickly unfolded the letter and read it aloud, though softly, to the others.

__

Dear Harry,

I'm very surprised your owl made it here, but I am very glad you wrote. It is not too late to stop Lord Voldemort. He has not, that we know of, taken over Azkaban yet. Lupin lives fairly close to Azkaban, and we'll try to be there to stop him, whatever he plans to do, and whenever he plans to do it. Dumbledore is here, too. He arrived shortly after the day you had the dream. He is, of course, very sorry he left at the exact wrong time. Here's some advice to you. Be careful, Harry. Don't hang out with Malfoy anymore. He might not have been acting when he said all those things. Don't do anything stupid. I will write you again when something happens.

****

Sirius

"Well, now we know Dumbledore is doing something about it," said Lauren, when Harry had finished reading.

"Yeah, but what? Sirius didn't say. We don't know what will happen. For all we know, You-Know-Who could have taken over Azkaban without anyone noticing," Ron said drearily.

"Wait!" said Harry suddenly. "There's something on the back!"

__

Dear Harry,

As Sirius said, I am very sorry for leaving the school, but it can not be helped. Had I known you would have this dream, I would have stayed a few days longer. However, it was extremely helpful, as I have been wondering what to do next. We, meaning Sirius, Professor Lupin, myself, and a few others, have formed a plan. I can not say what the plan is right now, in case Dark wizards intercept this letter.

The reason for this letter is that we need you to come here. You will miss school, yes, but it is a small price to pay for the help you can give us. Three weeks is too long for owl correspondence. By the time we get your letters, something else could have already happened. Your connection with Voldemort is very important now. I will be back shortly after you receive this letter. I will come and get you. Be ready to leave at any time. Oh, and you can bring Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, and Miss Marshall if you like. No doubt they can be of some assistance, too. Tell them to be ready. I will arrange the transportation. I'm sure you've already heard this from Sirius, but be careful. There are some who can't be trusted.

Professor Dumbledore

Harry stared at the letter he had just read. "They want me to go…there?" he asked.

"Not just you, all of us," said Hermione.

"Weird," said Ron. For a while, they all sat there looking at the letter and each other. After classes that day, they packed so they were ready to leave when Dumbledore came for them.

They did not have to wait long. The day after the next, Dumbledore came into the Great Hall, where they were sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating dinner. He had just gotten back. The four of them walked up to their common room, and Dumbledore followed.

"Hurry, there's no time to waste," said Dumbledore, as they climbed into the common room and grabbed their bags. Then they walked out the main entrance.

"How are we getting there?" asked Ron.

"Knight bus," said Dumbledore. He stuck out his wand hand, the way to attract the wizard bus. A bus suddenly burst out in front of them and stopped to let them on. Luckily for Harry, it was not the same bus that had taken him to Diagon Alley two years ago after he had blown up his Aunt Marge. This bus had different people working on it, who didn't recognize him as the boy who was Harry Potter, but pretended to be Neville.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lauren, and Professor Dumbledore were ushered upstairs, and given a bed each. "This is the fastest way for us to get to Professor Lupin's house," Dumbledore explained. "We should be there late tomorrow evening."

The four were chatting until Dumbledore asked Harry to retell his dream. He could give many more details when he was talking than when he was writing. When he was finally finished, Dumbledore suggested they all go to sleep, since they had a late day ahead of them tomorrow.

When Harry awoke the next morning, he read the newspaper, which Dumbledore had bought. They were served some sort of brunch, which didn't look too appetizing, that none of them ended up eating. After several hours of doing nothing, the dropped them off outside a small, wooden house. Dumbledore knocked on the door.

"Hello!" said Lupin, answering the door and invited them inside. "How was your trip?"

"Fine," they all muttered. It was late and they were tired. Lupin led them inside into the kitchen, where they were getting ready to eat a very late dinner.

"Hey," said Sirius, who was putting dishes on the table.

A woman was standing by the stove, heating water in a kettle. "Oh, good, you're here. Dinner is ready," she said cheerfully. She took the kettle off the stove and poured the water into mugs.

"Good, I'm starving!" said Ron. They chuckled.

They all sat down around the rectangular table. The woman sat across from Harry. He couldn't think of the reason, but she looked strangely familiar.

"Kids, this is Ms. Arabella Figg," said Sirius, referring to the lady. Harry understood immediately why he recognized the lady. She was the Dursleys' neighbor who used to take him in when the Dursleys went places. She smiled at him.

"You're a witch?" he asked slowly.

"Yes. I know you must think it's strange that when you came over I always said nothing, but I was covering up. If your aunt and uncle knew I was a witch, they wouldn't let you see me anymore. I'm sorry if I bored you," she said.

"That's okay."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ron and Hermione. 

"I used to take care of Harry when his aunt and uncle wanted to go out," explained Ms. Figg.

"So what's the plan?" Ron asked. 

"The plan? The plan is, we wait for Voldemort to make the first move," explained Dumbledore.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ron.

"It means that either we get some kind of signal from Harry," added Lupin, smiling at Harry, "or we wait for him to do what he does."

"But, I might not get a signal," said Harry.

"That's one drawback to the plan. But if we don't get a signal, there's nothing we can do. We can't wait around Azkaban for him, because we don't know when he's coming. But for now, the only thing we can do is stay put and wait."

By the time they finished eating their dinner, it was very late. "It's time for bed," said Dumbledore. "It's late."

"Where are we supposed to sleep?" asked Ron, yawning.

"There are three bedrooms," said Lupin. He led them back a little ways into a short hallway with two doors on one side, and one on the other. Lupin opened the first door on the side with two. "This is where the girls will sleep," he said. There were two beds in the room. "One of you girls will have to sleep on the floor."

"I will," said Lauren. Hermione took the open bed, and Ms. Figg had already taken the other bed.

Lupin closed the door behind him, and opened the door on the other side of the hall. "This will be Dumbledore's room, and Fletcher's, too, when he gets here." Dumbledore went into the room and shut the door.

They walked to the last door in the hall. It looked identical to the other two rooms. "This last room will be a little crowded," said Lupin. "Me and Sirius will sleep on the beds, and you two boys will have to sleep on the floor."

Ina few minutes, everyone was situated and in bed. Many "goodnights" were called, and then the lights went out. They were soon fast asleep.


	10. The Azkaban Takeover

****

Chapter 10: The Azkaban Takeover

The next morning when Harry woke up, he saw that everyone who shared a room with him was already awake. He quickly dressed, then went into the kitchen, where everyone was gathered around the table, eating.

"Good morning," Harry said, sitting down at the table.

"Nice of you to finally wake up," joked Ron. Harry smiled.

Everyone else at the table was eating their eggs, quietly. Dumbledore was reading the newspaper, the _Wizard World_. After a while, he put the paper down and said, "When was Fletcher supposed to be coming?"

"Either today or tomorrow," Lupin answered.

"Who's Fletcher?" Harry asked.

"Mundungus Fletcher. He's an Auror, and one of the people who are in on our plan," said Sirius.

"It's not much of a plan," said Ms. Figg.

"I agree, but there's not much else we can do, Arabella," sighed Dumbledore.

The day went by quickly. There was not much to do except homework, which the teachers had given the four to work on while they were away. Dumbledore had told the teachers the students would be out, but he only told Professors Snape and McGonagall why. Dumbledore had no idea how long they'd be gone, so the teachers had given them as much homework as they could carry. It was all very confusing because they hadn't learned it yet, but with a lot of help from Hermione, they did a few assignments.

Harry and Ron were also sore because they were missing Quidditch practice. Although Harry promised he would be back for the next game, he was the team captain. He put the Weasley twins in charge while he was gone. However, it would be hard to practice if you had no Seeker and no Keeper. He left that with the twins to deal with.

Night came quickly, and before they knew it, it was time for bed. Harry tossed and turned in his bed. He couldn't sleep. He kept on thinking. Everyone relied on him. What would he do if Lord Voldemort took Azkaban and he didn't notice? What was Voldemort doing tonight? Late into the night, he fell into a restless sleep.

"Tonight's the night, Wormtail. The dementors wrote that they are still loyal to me, and have told me to meet them tonight. But, Dumbledore might already suspect me; we must go in disguise."

"Disguise?"

"Like this." Lord Voldemort took his wand and tapped himself on the head with it. He was transfigured into his sixteen-year-old self.

"Now you. Let's see… What shall you be, Wormtail? Not your sixteen-year-old self, no, too many who might recognize you. You shall just stay the same. Now, as much as I hate Muggles, their clothing will come in handy tonight." He was already wearing a T-shirt and jeans, and he tapped Wormtail with his wand, and he was soon wearing them, too.

"We can Apparate to the mainland, and then the dementors will take us across to the island," Voldemort said.

"My Lord, I…"

"Don't tell me you don't know how to Apparate!"

"Oh, no, Master, not that. I know how. It's just that…you have my wand." The last few words Wormtail said were full of shame. Voldemort took the wand out of his jean pocket and threw it to Wormtail. With a small pop, they both Apparated to the mainland.

It was a foggy night. A hooded figure hurried toward the two as they stood at the dock. The figure bent into an unmistakable bow. Voldemort smiled. The dementor led them to a small rowboat. All three of them climbed in, and they used magic to speed the boat along.

After a few minutes, the boat came to a stop in front of a large building. They walked inside. There was a long hall way with many barred doors on either side. Voldemort walked up the dark halls of the prison, looking it each cell to see who it contained. The first cell held a young man, sitting quietly and staring into space. Voldemort walked up to door and waved his hand. The man continued to stare.

"_Avada Kedavra_," Voldemort whispered. The man dropped to the floor, dead.

Harry woke up, screaming, a bad pain in his scar. Dumbledore and the girls rushed into his room, and Sirius, Lupin, and Ron bolted up in bed. Everyone stared at Harry.

"It's happening," he said.

The effect of these two words on the cabin was astonishing. Dumbledore, Sirius and Lupin got up, grabbed their wands, and rushed toward the door. Ms. Figg, the girls, Ron, and Harry rushed after. Dumbledore turned in the doorway.

"Arabella, you stay here with Hermione, Lauren, and Ron. Harry, you come with us."

"But-" Ron protested, but Dumbledore stopped him.

"It's too dangerous. There's no time to talk, now. Let's go." Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, and Harry walked out the door. Ron walked sadly back to his bedroom.

"How do we get there?" asked Harry.

"We Apparate," said Dumbledore shortly.

"But I can't Apparate!" protested Harry.

Dumbledore was not paying attention. He was muttering words with his wand pointed at Harry. He tapped himself, and suddenly they were off.

It was the strangest way Harry had ever traveled, even weirder than Floo Powder was. Apparating was like being thrown. It happened instantly. Harry was traveling through an all-white space, when suddenly, he was standing on a foggy shore.

"This is the place I saw in my dream!" Harry said. "Wormtail and Lord Voldemort met a dementor out here and he took them in a boat."

There was no boat to be seen. Dumbledore conjured one from thin air, and they all climbed in. Dumbledore used the same magic Voldemort had used to speed the boat.

When they got to the island of Azkaban, the stepped out of the boat. "Watch yourselves," Sirius warned. They went inside.

The place was deserted. There were no Dementors, no prisoners, no Voldemort, no Wormtail. The three men split up, Sirius taking Harry with him, to search the building. But when they met up an hour later, they found there was nothing but dead bodies in the place.

Dumbledore walked into a small office in the front of the prison. There were many tall filing cabinets and papers. Dumbledore took a thick packet from the desk. Harry watched silently as they looked at all the dead bodies (still in their cells) and checked them off on the sheet. Then Dumbledore took the chart and led them back to the boat. Once at the mainland, they Apparated back to the cabin.

"What happened?" asked an anxious Ms. Figg, as they walked back into the cabin.

"He did it," said Sirius sadly. "Cleaned the place out."

"The Dementors must have gone with him. The prisoners he either killed or took," explained Lupin.

Harry yawned, and bypassing Hermione, Ron's and Lauren's questions, went straight to bed. The others stayed up late, talking.

"We should bring them back," said Sirius. "They're missing school and Quidditch. They're not of much use."

"I agree," added Lupin, "but I think you should go back, too, Dumbledore."

"Yes, I have been away for a while, but we shouldn't go back unless there is a way we can get messages to each other instantly."

"What if we connected to the Floo Network? Then we'll have contact through the fire," suggested Ms. Figg. "I really should be returning home, too."

"That's a good idea," said Sirius.

"It shall be arranged, then," said Dumbledore. "That way we can be here instantly."

It was decided that Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lauren, and Dumbledore would go back to Hogwarts until any news was heard. That afternoon, they got on the Knight Bus, which took them back to the castle. Since Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lauren had missed a few classes, they needed a little help to catch up, but since they had done some work, they were soon back with the rest of class. Quidditch practices resumed under Harry's authority, and went well.

It had been a week since they had come back to Hogwarts, and Harry wanted to write to Sirius. He planned to write the letter and give it to Dumbledore, who could read it to him when they talked over the Floo Network. He was walking up to Dumbledore's during his lunch break, when he heard other voices coming from the office.

"Crazy! That's just crazy!" came a voice, which sounded like Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

"If you don't do something now, you will not be able to do anything later," said a second voice, Dumbledore's.

"I told you not to go meddling in the Ministry! Don't think I don't know about you telling Arthur Weasley to convince everyone in the office! I'll let you do what you want with your school, but this is going too far!"

"Did you go to Azkaban like I requested?"

"No! I have business to attend to! I have no time for such outings!"

"Then you would not have seen what I saw there. The place was deserted. The only people who were there were dead! Lord Voldemort took his followers and the Dementors! Didn't I tell you to take Azkaban out of their control? Yes. But did you? No. Harry has told me that Voldemort also sent word to the giants. If you don't offer them more, it's back to fourteen years ago."

"Harry's just a boy. You can't say you really believe him? He always comes up with strange stories!"

"If you refuse to take the necessary actions, then you can be sure Voldemort will come back to power. Do you understand that? Everything we have worked for to get the world straight will be lost. Is that what you want?"

"Dumbledore, I can't offer friendship to the giants. The people would hate me!"

"Like I said before, Cornelius, if you did not love your job so much, you would ignore what the people said about you and take action!"

Fudge didn't say anything, and it sounded as though he knew Dumbledore was right. "What do you want from me, Dumbledore? I'm not a great sorcerer like you. I don't know what to do."

"I am no great sorcerer compared to Lord Voldemort at his full power. I'm telling you what you must do. _Extend friendship to the Giants_."

"But what if it's too late?"

"Then there is nothing we can do. We can only hope it's not too late. So do it now."

Harry, still standing in the doorway, realized he had better move before Fudge came out and realized he had been eavesdropping. He walked back out into the corridor.

"Hello, Harry," said Fudge, walking hurriedly towards the exit.

Dumbledore followed Fudge out of the office. "What is it, Harry?" he asked.

"Nothing serious," answered Harry quickly. "I just wanted to give you this letter to Sirius." Dumbledore took the letter and went back into his office, shutting the door behind him. Harry walked back to the common room to tell the others.

The next morning, Harry and Ron were walking back from Quidditch practice when Malfoy came up to them, out of breath.

"Have either of you seen Scott?" he asked bitterly, as though he didn't really want to talk to them but was forced to.

"Not lately," answered Harry.

Malfoy grumbled something, then sped off.

"Wonder what that was about," said Ron.

"Let's follow him," said Harry. The two boys walked down the hall after him.

It wasn't long before they had figured out where Malfoy was going. He was taking a staircase down to the first floor, and turned into a hallway, where, on the wall was still written, "The Chamber of Secrets is opened. Enemies of the heir, beware." Malfoy ducked into the door, first looking around to see if anyone was watching him. He saw Harry and Ron.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked.

"Following you," Ron said plainly.

"Well, go away! I don't need you!"

"Gladly," sneered Ron. He and Harry began to walk away.

"Wait!" Malfoy shouted. They turned around. He looked at the ground.

"Oh, so are you admitting you do need our help?" asked Harry.

"Shut up, Potter," Malfoy said, but it was not his usual tone. It seemed like he had lost something in making fun of them.

They followed him into the bathroom. Before they could even say hi to Myrtle, Malfoy opened the Chamber of Secrets and led them down the slide.

"What makes you think he's down here?" asked Harry.

"He was here last time," said Malfoy.

"Wormtail wouldn't try to kidnap him again, and take him to the same place! Even _he's_ not that stupid!" Ron shouted.

"Shut up, Ron," said Harry.

"Oh, so now you're siding with Malfoy, eh?"

"I didn't say that!" Harry shouted back.

"Well you're sure acting like it!"

"Stop arguing!" shouted Malfoy. "We don't want to let everyone know we're down here!"

"Sorry, Ron," said Harry, "but if we're gonna stop Lord Voldemort, we have to work together." Ron nodded and apologized.

"Now hold on, there!" said Malfoy. "What's all this stuff about stopping the Dark Lord? That's not what I came down here for!"

"Listen up!" said Ron. "Your so-called Master is kidnapping your cousin! Now let's think about it. Let's side with someone who's trying to kill people in our family! Great idea!"

"The Dark Lord does what he thinks best!" Malfoy argued.

Harry sighed and leaned against stone wall of the corridor. "We're not getting anywhere, here."

"Fine," said Ron. "Fine! Do what you want, Malfoy! Think what you want! But when your cousin gets killed, don't complain to us! Come on, Harry!" Harry and Ron left the Chamber and started towards their common room.

"He's the one who asked us to help!" said Ron. "The way he says it, you'd think we followed him!"

"We did follow him a little in the beginning, but he did tell us to come down there with him," said Harry.

Ron nodded, and opened his mouth to comment, but before he could say anything, they heard footsteps and a voice behind them.

"Harry! Ron! Wait up!" Malfoy was coming towards them. He looked defeated. "I need your help."

"Wow," said Ron, "he knows my first name!"

"Shut up," Malfoy said. "I heard my cousin down there, but he wasn't there when I went down."

"You said you didn't need us!" Harry said, and he and Ron kept walking.

"I never said that!" shouted Malfoy.

"Shut up! You're gonna attract a teacher!" Ron hissed.

Sure enough, who came down the corridor then but Professor Snape.

"What do we have here? The first class has already started. What are you two doing out of class?"

Harry, already angry, was about to shout at him that Malfoy was out of class, too, but he didn't get a chance.

"Sorry, Professor," said Malfoy. "I was just showing them something."

"Better be off to class then, boys." Snape walked back down the hallway he had come from.

"There!" said Malfoy. "I saved your skins! Now will you help me?"

Harry sighed, then walked off with Malfoy. Ron followed. They walked down to the Chamber again. Scott was there, in the bottom chamber, lying motionless on the floor. Malfoy rushed over to him, and lifted him up.

"Scott! Are you okay?" Scott opened his eyes, but was too weak to get up. "What happened?"

"He…he told me to follow him. I came down here with him and he attacked me or something. I don't remember," Scott explained weakly.

"Who?" asked Malfoy urgently.

"Your dad."


	11. The Eye and the Ear

****

Chapter 11: The Eye and The Ear

"What?" said Harry, Malfoy, and Ron at the same time.

"My dad?"

"I didn't know what he was doing here, but he told me to come with him. He's my uncle, so I trusted him. I went with him, but when we got down here he said, 'Sorry, Scott,' then did some kind of spell."

"Let's get him up to the hospital wing," said Harry. "We're already in enough trouble."

Malfoy looked dazed. "Okay," he said, helping Scott to his feet. Scott was shaking and could not stand. Malfoy picked him up and carried him out of the Chamber.

The three of them took turns carrying Scott until they were at the hospital wing. Harry pounded on the door.

Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, opened the door. "What are you all making such a racket for? This is a hospital wing!" When she saw Scott, she let them all inside.

Malfoy, who was carrying his cousin at the moment, put him in bed. He had either fallen asleep or passed out on the way upstairs.

"You three had better get back to class. Your teachers will be wondering," Madame Pomfrey instructed.

As the three boys were walking along, they realized they all had Care of Magical Creatures now. "Hagrid likes you," Malfoy said. "He'll let you in late. You have to get him to let me off."

"We will," said Ron, who would have never believed he was agreeing to help Malfoy.

By the time they got to class, they were twenty minutes late. "I know it's you guys," said Hagrid, "but I can't let off twenty minutes late!"

"We had a problem," explained Harry. "Malfoy's cousin got hurt!"

Hagrid looked at him oddly. "Now wait a minute! Since when have yeh been helpin' Malfoy?"

"Long story," said Harry.

"Well, I guess I can let yeh off, but not again."

"Thanks!" the three boys said, as they went to look at the new creatures Hagrid had today.

"What happened?" asked Lauren, as Harry and Ron came up next to them. Harry and Ron told them the story.

"That's really strange!" said Hermione.

"Yeah, I don't think Mr. Malfoy would do that to his own nephew!" said Lauren.

"Maybe he was under mind-control or something. The Dark Lord can do that, you know!" said Malfoy, coming over to defend his family.

"Oh, quit trying to defend him! We all know he would do Dark things like that!" Ron shouted.

"No fightin'!" said Hagrid loudly.

"I don't know why he did it," said Malfoy, quietly, "but I don't think he would on his own."

"We can ask Scott more later when he's better," said Lauren, "but for now, let's just concentrate on the lesson."

All that week, Scott stayed in the hospital wing. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lauren decided that they should let him rest and get his strength back before questioning him, but Malfoy went to see him anyway. He could never figure anything out, however, because Scott had already told him everything he knew.

"Why don't you just ask your Dad in an owl?" suggested Harry, when Malfoy complained. Meanwhile, Harry had already sent Sirius a letter via Dumbledore. Other than that, they were totally stumped. No one knew why Mr. Malfoy would attack his own family member.

They hadn't heard anything about Lord Voldemort either, until the _Daily Prophet_ came one day at breakfast. Hermione didn't even need to open the paper to see. The headline was so big, she could see it from half way across the Great Hall:

****

Azkaban Has Been Cleaned Out

She showed the newspaper to Harry, Ron, and Lauren, who all read the article to themselves.

The wizard prison, Azkaban, has been broken into, robbed, cleaned out, attacked, whatever you like to call it. Seems it happened weeks ago, but the Ministry chose not to tell anyone. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, said, "We did not think it important for everyone to panic when we have the situation under complete control." When asked who he suspected was the criminal behind it, Fudge said, "We have no idea, as they did not leave a trace or clue."

Azkaban's condition, as seen by our reporters, was even worse than usual in some cases, but better in others. The place was deserted. The dementors are all gone, and so are the prisoners. Fudge also stated that when he and Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, went to inspect Azkaban, most of the prisoners were found dead. He and Dumbledore buried the bodies. It was also noticed that the more recent prisoners and some prominent Dark wizards were missing from their cells altogether.

This event happened a while back. Why did the Ministry disclose this information from the public? Could this be the work of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? The Minister strongly denies this, saying You-Know-Who is long gone. Could this break in and the disappearance of the Durmstrang Headmaster, Igor Karkaroff, who was proven to be a former Death Eater, be linked? Could they be possible signs of the Dark Lord coming back to power? Let's hope and pray not, and also hope the criminals in Azkaban who have escaped will be put back in their proper place soon.

"If everyone knows about this, they'll start panicking. They should never have written this article!" Lauren said.

"Fudge is gonna be mad," said Ron. "He didn't want anyone to find out about You-Know-Who coming back."

Harry had been so busy with the article, he hadn't noticed that a large school owl had dropped a letter on to his breakfast plate. "Hey, Harry, what's that?" Hermione asked, and Harry looked at it for the first time. It was written with emerald green ink, and in loopy handwriting Harry recognized as Dumbledore's. He opened the letter. It read:

__

Dear Harry

I have some bad news to tell you. I need to go away to Professor Lupin's again. That may not sound like bad news to you, but here it is. Voldemort has been sighted. He was not seen at Hogwarts, but in England, and I don't feel it will be safe for you if I am not here. I know this is short notice, but you need to come with me. This time, it would be better if you left your friends here. I do not want them to miss classes, and I don't know how long we'll be gone. Be ready by eight o'clock tonight, and meet me in the entrance hall.

Professor Dumbledore

Harry was shocked and stunned. Voldemort sighted? Everyone else seemed too shocked to say anything.

At 8 o'clock sharp, Harry met Dumbledore at the front door. They had walked silently out to the grounds. When they had gotten a good distance from the school, Dumbledore called the Knight Bus. By the next afternoon, Harry and Dumbledore had arrived at Lupin's. The same people where there, Sirius, Lupin, Ms. Figg, bet there was also another person Harry did not recognize.

"Hello, Harry. Mundungus Fletcher's my name."

"Uh, nice the meet you Mr. Fletcher." This was the person Dumbledore had been talking about the last time he had been there.

When the group was not eating, Harry was often bored. He had plenty of schoolwork to do, but it wasn't very entertaining. He soon came to exploring the small cabin and the grounds around it.

One day, he was walking around in Sirius and Lupin's room looking at a book of spells on the bookshelf. He sat down on the bed with the book, and heard a thump. He turned around. When he landed on the bed, he had knocked over Sirius's suitcase, which was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Harry thought it would be rude of him to leave the stuff all scattered on the floor, so he bent down to pick it up. He had almost gotten everything back in the suitcase when he noticed something small and black across the room. He crawled over to pick it up.

The small item looked like a small black ear. _Wonder what it does_, thought Harry. He turned it over and over in his hand trying to figure it out. Just then, Sirius came in.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, snatching the ear from Harry.

"Your stuff fell out of your suitcase and I was just putting it back." He watched as Sirius closed and locked the suitcase.

"Now it won't fall over anymore," Sirius said smiling, but Harry couldn't help thinking he looked a bit angry as he left the room.

All that night, Harry couldn't stop thinking about the device in Sirius's suitcase. He wished he could ask Ron or Hermione about it. What did the thing do? What was it for? Where did he get it? He was sure they would be able to answer his questions.

The next day when Sirius was out of his room, Harry looked in his suitcase again, but the ear was not there. Sirius must have taken it with him. Harry felt discouraged, but later, after he had gone to bed, he heard quiet voices in the hallway.

"He has a right to see it." This voice was Dumbledore's.

"But he's not ready yet!" Sirius.

"We need to tell him the truth. He deserves to know."

"Oh, alright. We'll tell him in the morning." The lights went out and the house was silent. But Harry was thinking. _Were they talking about me? What do they need to tell me? Is it about Voldemort? Is it about that weird thing in the suitcase? _Thinking about these questions, he fell asleep.

Harry awoke the next morning and dressed. He went to breakfast as usual. _They must not have been talking about me last night_, he thought. He did some Transfiguration homework, ate lunch, and then went to sit outside. It was getting chilly and approaching the winter holidays, but he didn't seem to care. He was lost in thought.

In fact, Harry was so lost, he didn't notice Dumbledore coming outside and sitting beside him. It was a few minutes before he came back to earth. "Oh, I didn't see you, sir," he said, startled.

"That was apparent." Harry could see that he was holding something in his hand, but could not see what it was. Dumbledore followed his eyes down and opened his hand. Harry gasped. It was the ear, but it was accompanied by a small black eye.

"What is that?" Harry said without thinking.

"It's a wizard monitor. We use it to see what's going on in another room. It's mostly used for parents with small children or babies."

"Why would Sirius have one of those in his suitcase?"

"Well, this is a very old monitor. It's about fourteen years old." Dumbledore looked at Harry very closely.

"Was it…mine?" Harry asked slowly.

"Yes. Your parents used it to keep an eye on you when they were not in your room."

Harry looked at the magical device carefully. This thing had memories of his childhood. He started to think about what he could learn from this, but Dumbledore cut him off.

"Harry, let me warn you. This has very powerful memories on it. Sirius did not think it was time to show it to you yet, but I think you are ready. It is your decision." He handed Harry the eye and the ear. "When you have decided what to do, I will show you how to work it, if you want."

Harry looked at it. He wanted to see what it held, and yet, he knew the memories would be painful. Part of him did not want to see it, but part of him did. He stood up, but Dumbledore called to him.

"Before you go, I have one more thing to say." Harry looked at him intently.

"Christmas holidays are coming up, and I am going back to the school. No doubt you will want to come along and see your friends?" Harry had forgotten all about the holidays. He nodded. "I also believe you have another Quidditch game coming up. You can't get out of practice you know." Dumbledore smiled, and they both walked back into the cabin.

The rest of the day Harry spent packing and thinking. Now that he knew what the device was, he wished he didn't know. He couldn't decide whether to work it or not. Dumbledore said it had bad memories on it, and Harry didn't want to see them. However, he did want to see his parents and himself as a baby. He didn't know what to do. Finally, he decided to talk to Ron, Hermione, and Lauren about it. They could give him good advice.

Harry was soon back at the castle. He and Dumbledore had arrived late at night, and he had decided not to wake Ron. The next morning, he was woken by the sounds of Ron getting ready for Quidditch practice. Harry stood up while Ron was bending over his trunk to get his robes.

"How can you have practice without me?" Harry asked, making Ron jump three feet in the air.

"When did you get here?" asked Ron.

"Late last night. I didn't want to wake you up." Harry quickly got his robes and broom and they walked down to the field together. On the way, Harry told Ron about the monitor.

"Yeah, we have a bunch of those in our attic. Mom used to have one in every room so she could see what we were doing. She wanted to keep us out of trouble. Don't think it worked. And you know what? I saw her putting one in Fred and George's room during the summer. She tries to keep an eye on them."

Harry continued to tell Ron what the eye might have on it. "What are you going to do?" asked Ron.

"I'm not sure. I was going to ask you."

"I think you should watch it. It'll be cool to see what you were like when you were little." Obviously, Ron had forgotten about the bad events in Harry's past.

"Maybe I'll ask Hermione, too," Harry said.

"Ask me what?" came a voice from behind them. It was Hermione and Lauren walking down to watch Quidditch practice.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Ron.

"We came to watch practice. We always do," answered Lauren.

"What were you going to ask me Harry?" Hermione asked.

Harry told Lauren and Hermione the whole story. When he was finished, Lauren said, "Well, it's really up to you, Harry, but if I were in your position, I would watch it. You want to know what's in your past, don't you? You can always turn it off if it's too painful."

"I agree," said Hermione, "if it were me, I'd want to see what really happened."

"I was thinking that," said Harry. "I'll go to Dumbledore tonight and he'll tell me how to work it." The four of them walked down to the field.


	12. That Dreadful Day

****

Chapter 12: That Dreadful Day

After practice that morning, Harry still had his classes ahead of him, but as soon as they were over, he headed to Dumbledore's office. No one came with him. They thought it was better to leave him alone this time. He knocked softly on the office door. Dumbledore quickly answered.

"I was expecting you to come today, Harry," Dumbledore said, inviting Harry inside. They sat down at the desk and Harry handed Dumbledore the eye and the ear. "Now, Harry, you are sure you understand what you are about to see?" Harry nodded. He was afraid if he opened his mouth it would say no.

"Very well then," said Dumbledore. He put the eye and ear on the desk and tapped them three times with his wand then whispered, "_Refelate!_" 

The two black pieces on the desk sprang into action. They both jumped off the table and over to the wall, where they each lodged themselves. A picture began to form; it started small and out of focus, but it soon got larger and clearer. Harry thought it was like a Muggle filmstrip or projection. He watched closely. Soon, the picture had grown so big, it felt like he was inside it. It was just like being inside a memory, as he had been a few times before. 

The wizard monitor had taken him to a small house. The picture was of the living room of the house. The clock on the wall showed it was eight o'clock in the evening. A man, who Harry recognized to be his father, was sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. 

Harry could hear footsteps upstairs, and the picture had split in half. The second picture was obviously a baby's room. A woman was putting a baby in the cradle. The baby must have been him, and the woman, his mother. The window in the room showed the outside of the house where it was raining heavily. Harry heard the rain beating lightly against the roof of the small house. Lily finished putting the baby to bed and turned out the lights in the room. The second picture only showed darkness. Harry turned towards the other screen.

Lily came into the living room and sat down next to James. "It's starting to thunder," she said. "I hope Harry doesn't wake up." 

James nodded and looked out the window. Harry looked, too. A streak of lightning lit up the street. He could have sworn he saw a dark figure standing in the street, but by the time the next bolt struck, it was gone.

James went back to reading the paper and Lily picked up a magazine from the side table. There was a knock on the door. "Wonder who that is," said James.

"Maybe it's Sirius," replied Lily. James put the paper down on the coffee table and went to answer the door, but Harry couldn't see that part of the room. Upstairs, baby Harry had begun to cry. Lily went to see what was wrong. The light turned back on in the second picture, but it was only Lily rocking baby Harry back to sleep. Harry looked at his mother longingly, but he tore his eyes away when he heard the noise coming from the first picture. He looked back to it.

James opened the door, but Sirius was not the one standing there. It was Lord Voldemort. Harry gasped, even though he was not surprised.

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!"

The door burst open in a flash of yellow light. Lord Voldemort stood there. He laughed a very cold, high-pitched laugh. He was grinning. "Ah, James, good to see you," he said, falsely pleasant.

"What do you want?" James spat.

"I want Harry. Bring him to me."

"You can never have him!" shouted James. He pulled out his wand.

"Are you refusing me, the most powerful dark wizard alive?"

"You'll never get Harry!"

"I'll do anything I want! Now step aside, or I'll have to kill you, too!"

"Fine, kill me, but you'll never kill Harry."

Voldemort sighed. "As you wish."

James looked like he was about to do a spell, but Voldemort was faster. "_Avada Kedavra_," he whispered. James heard and knew there was nothing he could do. A green flash came out of Voldemort's wand. James hit the floor, dead. Harry just stared. Then he realized something else was going on in the other room.

Lily had heard James's shouts from upstairs. "Harry, be quiet; he'll find you!" Lily whispered, but Harry did not stop crying. Lily did not know how long James could hold him off. After a few minutes, she heard a cold, mirthless laugh. "James!" she breathed. She knew Voldemort was coming, but she didn't have anywhere to hide.

The door of baby Harry's room burst open. "Hello, hello, Lily. Are you going to give Harry to me, or do you refuse like your husband?" Voldemort sneered.

"What did you do to James?" she screamed.

"He is dead." Voldemort smiled.

Lily gasped. "No, no, no!"

"Now give me the boy!"

"Not Harry! Not Harry! Please! I'll do anything!"

"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"

"Why do you want him? What are you going to do?"

"The stars have shown he is destined to kill me. I can't let that happen, now can I? I have to kill him first."

"He's just a baby! He can't kill!"

"If I get him out of the way now, he can't get me later. Now hand him over!"

Lily stood her ground, stalling until she could think of a plan. "How did you find us? I know Sirius would never tell!"

"Ah, but what you do not know is Sirius persuaded James to change to Peter Petigrew at the last minute. Thought he would be too obvious. Another thing you did not know is that Peter was my spy."

"No!" said Lily.

"Yes! And if you're done stalling, could we please get on with it? _Give me the boy_!"

"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside now!"

"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead! Not Harry! Please…have mercy…have mercy!"

"Lord Voldemort never shows mercy," he hissed. He turned on her with his wand. Using the same curse as before, Lily was dead.

"There's no one to protect you, now, Harry," said Voldemort. He walked over to the cradle where Harry was still howling, even louder now. "You know, it's a shame I have to kill you. You'd make a pretty good dark wizard, with the right training. Well, I can't have you growing up and killing me, so goodbye, Harry."

Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry. "_Avada Kedavra_," he whispered. A bright green flash jumped out of the wand and hit Harry's forehead, leaving a small lightning shaped scar. Then, for some unknown reason, the spell bounced back to its creator. Voldemort shrieked and vanished with such a powerful force, the house around him was destroyed. It crumbed and fell down, like an ancient ruin. When this happened, the monitor was either dislodged or turned off and both pictures went blank.

Harry couldn't remember getting back to the common room that night. He was shocked by what he had seen. Dumbledore had given him an envelope with a letter from Sirius, but Harry had not opened it. He woke up the next morning and it took him a while to remember what had happened.

"Hey, Harry," Ron said shyly.

Harry got up and was about to dress when he realized he _was_ dressed.

"You were pretty beat last night," said Ron. 

"Yeah," Harry agreed. They went down to breakfast. Ron didn't ask Harry what he had seen and Harry didn't tell him. They sat down with Lauren and Hermione, but seeing Harry's face, they left him alone. Harry was quiet for the rest of the day. 

That night in the common room, Harry spoke. "Do you guys want to know what I saw?"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," said Hermione quickly. 

"I'll feel better if I do." So Harry began to tell exactly what he had seen on the monitor.

"Where are the eye and the ear now?" Lauren asked.

"Dumbledore gave them back to me along with… Hold on! I'll be right back!" Harry dashed up to his dormitory and came back with the letter from Sirius. He read it to himself, then passed it around for the others to read it.

__

Dear Harry,

I know you have just seen the pictures on the wizard monitor. As Dumbledore may have already told you, I did not think you were ready to see it yet. However, Dumbledore thought you were, and so I gave it to him to show you. Then I wrote this to tell you what happened from then until I was put in Azkaban. I'll write it exactly as I remember it, and believe me, I remember it well.

I was riding in on my flying motorcycle to check on you. Hagrid had already arrived. He had rescued you from your house, and then it had crumbled. I looked around and gasped. I told Hagrid, "Give Harry to me, Hagrid, I'm his godfather, I'll look after him."

"No, I have me orders from Dumbledore. Harry's to go ter his aunt an' uncle's."

"No, please let me take him. Lily and James wouldn't want them to raise Harry."

"I'm sorry, Dumbledore's orders."

"Oh, alright. But here, take this." I pointed to my motorcycle. "I won't need it anymore." 

Hagrid nodded and climbed onto the motorcycle. It made noises as it took off into the sky. Hagrid made sure Harry was warm and safe then took off for number four, Privet Drive. 

I only had one thing on my mind after that. Get Peter. It was Peter's fault my best friend was dead. Peter's fault you were being sent to live with Muggles. I had to get revenge.

It took about a week to track Peter down. I started where I had seen Peter last, and asked around until I was given the information I wanted. Peter was hiding. Lord Voldemort had gone to the Potters' on his information, and he had now vanished. The Dark Lord's supporters weren't too happy with Peter then. 

I looked around the hiding place I told Peter to hide in when he was the Secret Keeper. Peter was there. I pulled out my wand, but kept it behind my back.

"What did you do?" I yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" said Peter innocently.

"You killed Lily and James!" I said.

"I did not! Why would I?" Peter shouted.

Muggles in the street were looking now, but I didn't care. I was going to kill Pettigrew. I cornered him. "You are a liar and a spy. I don't know why I didn't see it before. You killed James, and now I'm going to kill you," but before I could, Peter whipped out his wand.

"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?" he shouted. The Muggles stopped to look on. Peter pulled out a knife, but instead of plunging it into me, he chopped off his own finger. Then, he whispered a spell and the street blew apart. I quickly whispered a shielding spell, so the curse wouldn't kill me. The spell did kill thirteen Muggles standing around. Peter transformed into a rat and ran off into the sewers. 

Muggles were screaming now, and there was a huge crater in the middle of the street. I stood there, looking at where Peter had been standing. He was gone. A piece of his finger was lying on top of some bloody robes. I began to laugh. Peter had committed a huge crime! He was going to Azkaban for sure! I had gotten my revenge.

After a few minutes, the Hit Wizards from the Ministry of Magic came to get me; I was still standing in the street, laughing. The laughter did not last long, however, when they told me where they were taking me, Azkaban. I had "killed" the Potters, Peter Pettigrew, and thirteen Muggles. I argued, but it did no good. No one believed me.

I believe you know the rest of the story? You were dropped off on your aunt's doorstep with a note, and the next morning she found you when putting out the milk bottles. You can take it from there.

I know the memories on that monitor were painful, they were for me, too. But you cannot change the past_. I tried to get revenge on Peter, and look what happened to me. Voldemort's prediction never came true, maybe it will someday…_

****

Sirius

When everyone had finished reading the letter, Harry said, "Voldemort's prediction did come true. I was Voldemort's downfall."

"That's not the whole prediction," said Lauren. "He said you would _kill_ him!"

Harry opened his mouth wide. "If he doesn't kill me first."

"Oh, come on! Professor Trelawny's predictions are never right! What makes you think the Death Eaters' prediction is?" said Hermione.

"The Dark Lord is a lot more powerful, and a lot smarter than Professor Trelawny," said Ron. 

"But Professor McGonagall said it's the most imprecise kind of magic there is! There's no proof that it will actually come true!" Hermione argued.

"We won't know for a while," said Lauren.

"Well, I guess it's time to turn in for the night," Hermione said, getting up and stretching.

"Yeah," agreed Lauren.

"Harry," Ron whispered, as the girls went upstairs to start getting ready for bed. "I have to tell you something." He looked around nervously, first making sure that Hermione and Lauren had gone into their dormitory and had shut the door, then looking around to see who else was in the common room. The only ones still awake were Fred and Angelina, who were talking quietly by the fire. Maybe he was imagining it, but Harry thought that, ever since the Yule Ball last year, those two had been spending a lot more time together. He even noticed them holding hands during Quidditch practices. Ron didn't have to worry about them because they were paying too much attention to each other to notice that Ron and Harry were still downstairs.

"When you were at Lupin's, I saw something I think you should know about."

"What?" asked Harry, yawning.

"Well, I was working on that moon chart for astronomy late one night, and I guess I fell asleep in the common room. But then I heard some footsteps and I woke up. I hid behind the table; I don't think she saw me. But she headed out of the portrait hole and I followed her. Do you know where she went? The first floor girl's bathroom!"

"Who?" Harry demanded. 

"Lauren! Who else?"

"Maybe she just had to go to the bathroom," Harry mumbled sleepily.

"Harry! Wake up! The first floor bathroom is a little bit far to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night!"

Harry jerked awake.

"She must have been going to the Chamber! I didn't go in, but I think she saw me following her," Ron continued.

"Ron, that's crazy. Why would Lauren go down to the Chamber of Secrets? Anyway, she couldn't even get down there because she's not a Parselmouth. It was probably a dream."

Ron pondered this for a minute. "Yeah, it must have been. Sorry, guess I wasn't thinking."

And the two boys went off to bed. 


	13. Percy and Penelope

****

Chapter 13: Percy and Penelope

Harry had come back just in time for Gryffindor's match against Slytherin. The team had been practicing without him, and was showing much improvement. Harry always hated matches against Slytherin. They cheated and fouled other players. They would do anything to win. 

"I know Slytherin always cheats," he said during the locker room speech right before the match, "but we're better than them, and we can beat them without stooping to their level." The team cheered and they got ready to play. 

From the toss up, Slytherin showed their style. One of the Slytherin Chasers elbowed Alicia out of the way to get the ball, and he immediately flew down to the end of the field and scored. After that, Katie was able to get the ball and score before she was violently shoved.

"Penalty!" Lee Jordan called. "That's got to be a penalty!" Madame Hooch blew the whistle and Katie took a penalty shot. She was so angry she missed. The Slytherin section of the crowd cheered. In less than a minute, Slytherin had scored again. 

Then Harry saw the small glint of gold that he recognized as the Snitch. He was much closer than Malfoy; he would have no problem getting it. He zoomed towards the Snitch. 

"Potter's seen the Snitch!" Lee yelled excitedly. Malfoy sped after him, but he was way behind. Harry was within five feet of the Snitch.

__

Wham! A Slytherin Beater had crashed into Harry, almost knocking Harry off his broomstick. "Hey! He did that on purpose!" came Lee's voice. Harry held on for dear life and was able to right himself. He had been forced back, and now Malfoy was ahead of him. He took his hand off the broom and grabbed the Snitch.

"What filthy, rotten, stinking, cheating a- Sorry Professor."

"That's a foul," Fred was shouting at Madame Hooch as Harry approached.

"There's nothing I can do," she responded. "The game is already over. Slytherin is the winner." She looked just as upset about it as Harry felt. The team walked angrily back to the locker rooms. They felt bad about losing, but they felt even worse that they had lost because of cheating. 

"Don't worry," said Angelina. "We'll get them back." 

The Christmas holidays were approaching. They had but one more week of classes until the break. Everyone was looking forward to it. Even though they had lost at Quidditch, it was hard to think about the match when they had Christmas on their minds.

"So what are you going to do over break?" Harry asked Lauren as the two of them and Hermione walked down to breakfast one morning.

"Well, I guess I'll be going home. Maybe we might spend a couple days sightseeing in London, though. I guess you'll be staying here?"

"Yeah," answered Harry. Although he hadn't done anything to the Dursleys over the summer, they still forced him to stay at Hogwarts. Not that he was unhappy; Harry would much rather have been with his friends then his awful relatives.

"What about you, Hermione?" asked Lauren.

"I don't have any plans yet. Maybe I'll just stay here."

By this time, they had reached the Great hall. Ron was sitting at the table. An envelope was resting on his plate, and he was holding a square piece of parchment. By the look on his face, they could all tell there was something wrong.

"What's up, Ron?" asked Harry, sitting down next to him.

"You'll see in a moment," Ron sighed. As if they had heard his words, two post office owls swooped down to the Gryffindor table and dropped letters on Hermione and Harry's laps. Harry opened his letter and read.

You are cordially invited to the wedding of

Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater

Saturday, December twenty-third 

At the Wizard Hotel and Party Hall

Ten o'clock in the morning.

"What's so bad about that?" asked Hermione.

"Percy's getting married. Just another brother to take all of my attention," Ron said gloomily. 

"How come I wasn't invited?" Lauren asked. 

"The Weasleys don't even know you. And besides, you said you already have plans," said Hermione.

"I was just joking," said Lauren, laughing. 

Both Harry and Hermione sent the owls back saying they would go to the wedding. It was soon the end of the week, and everyone had their bags packed. The four of them walked down to the entrance hall together. They walked with the hundreds of other Hogwarts students to the train that was waiting for them. 

The train ride seemed short since everyone was excited about the holidays. They arrived at platform nine and three quarters. They went through the barrier and back into King's Cross Station. 

"See you guys later!" shouted Lauren as she split from the other three, making her way towards platform ten, and the train she and Joey were taking.

The other three walked towards the train that would take them back to the Burrow. 

It was late at night by the time Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George got off the train at their stop. It was only a short walk back to the house, but it was pitch black. 

"I'm starving!" Ron grumbled. 

"How much farther?" asked Ginny.

"Not much," answered George. As soon as he said this, they came over a hill and saw the house. Happy that they were finally there, the six of them ran down the hill.

Mrs. Weasley opened the door and welcomed everyone. "It's so nice to see you! Are you hungry?"

Everyone nodded. Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand and a spread of cold cuts appeared on the table. They sat down and started eating.

"I'm so excited about Percy's wedding!" Ginny said, her mouth full of roast beef. 

"Speaking of Percy, where is he?" asked Harry.

"He's still at work," answered Mrs. Weasley. "He should be home soon."

But Percy and Mr. Weasley still weren't home when Mrs. Weasley told them all that it was time for bed. Harry slept on the floor in Ron's room, and Hermione slept on the floor in Ginny's room.

When Harry woke up the next morning, he could hear a heated argument downstairs. 

"I had no idea where you were!"

"I'm sorry… I thought you knew!"

"If you were still living here, you'd be in big trouble! Imagine! Not telling you own mother that you've moved!"

Ron sat up groggily in his bed and looked at Harry. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily.

"I don't know. It sounds like your mom arguing with somebody."

"I didn't move! It's just for a little while!" argued the male voice downstairs. 

"That sounds like Bill," said Ron. The two of them pulled on some clothes and went downstairs.

"What's going on?" asked Ron. 

"Nothing," said Bill. He and Mrs. Weasley walked into separate rooms and shut their doors. 

"Wonder what they were fighting about," said Ron, sitting down at the table.

Hermione and Ginny came downstairs. "Who was fighting?" asked Ginny, sitting down. 

"Mum and Bill," answered Ron. 

"What were they fighting about?" asked Hermione. 

"I don't know. They didn't say anything when we asked."

Mrs. Weasley came back into the kitchen. "Breakfast anyone?" she asked cheerfully.

"What were you and Bill fighting about?" Ginny asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," replied Mrs. Weasley. "He just moved out of his house in Egypt and decided not to tell me. Want some eggs?"

They could tell that Mrs. Weasley didn't want to talk about it, so they accepted her breakfast offer.

"What are you going to do for the rest of the holiday?" Harry asked Ron.

"I'm just gonna stay here until school starts up again," answered Ron.

"Oh, that reminds me," Mr. Weasley cut in, as he came downstairs into the kitchen. "You're welcome to stay for the holidays, Harry. You too, Hermione."

"He can?" said Ron, amazed. "You never told me!"

"We thought it best not to get your hopes up before we checked with Dumbledore first," said Mrs. Weasley. "But we asked and he said it would be alright."

"Yeah!" said Ron.

"I'd love to stay, too," said Hermione, "but I want to spend Christmas day with my family. I only get to see some of my relatives once a year, and I don't want to miss it! But thanks for the offer."

"Aw," said Ginny. 

After breakfast was over, Harry, Ron, the twins, Ginny, and Hermione went outside to have a snowball fight. They build such huge forts and such heavy artillery that they skipped lunch just to keep playing. It was dinner before they stopped.

"Aw, Mom! Do we have to come in?" asked George, hitting Fred with a huge snowball in the back.

"I didn't like you skipping lunch, and I certainly won't let you skip dinner!" said Mrs. Weasley. "Plus, we have a lot to do before tomorrow."

Tomorrow was Percy's wedding, and Harry had not even seen Percy yet. Apparently, he was very busy with work and planning. He had left so early that morning that no one had seen him leave. Tonight he was staying at the Wizard Hotel and Party hall so he could be ready early the next morning. 

They went to bed early that night, after much protesting. "You will be getting up early and staying up very late tomorrow," argued Mrs. Weasley. There was no arguing with her. They were all so worn out from the snowball fight that they wanted to go to bed, but didn't admit it.

"Rise and shine!" called Mrs. Weasley the next morning. Harry sat up and put his glasses on. Ron rolled over and pulled the covers over his head. 

"How can we shine if the sun's not even up yet?" he grumbled. Harry looked out the window. It was snowing lightly, and the footprints they had made yesterday had vanished. 

Mrs. Weasley knocked on the door. "Ron! Get up!" she shouted. 

"Alright, alright," Ron said, stretching and standing up. 

Everyone was dressed in their best when they all gathered in the kitchen an hour later. All the boys were wearing nice suits, and much to Ron's disgust, ties. Mrs. Weasley was wearing a very nice looking long, dark blue dress. Ginny wore a black skirt and a cream colored blouse with flowers on it. Hermione's dress was sleeveless and lavender. Because it was winter, she wore a dark purple sweater to cover her bare arms. 

"How are we getting there?" asked Ginny. "We can't take Floo Powder in these clothes!"

"You'll see," said Mr. Weasley. They walked around the corner of the house and gasped. It was a shiny black limousine, and while it looked too small from the outside, Harry knew Mr. Weasley had enlarged it on the inside.

Mr. Weasley opened the doors of the limo and helped everyone in. After they were settled, he got in the driver's seat. Mrs. Weasley sat next to him. It was only a short drive to the Wizard Hotel and Party Hall, but it was too cold and snowy to walk. 

The Weasley's, Harry, and Hermione walked inside the Hall. It was a huge room with tables and chairs set up. Percy walked over looking overjoyed. He was wearing a black tuxedo, and looking very classy. 

"Hello, everyone!" he said happily. 

Ron groaned.

Soon the other Weasleys, Bill and Charlie, came into the room. As there was no room at the Weasley house, the two had stayed at the Hotel. There was much work to be done before the ceremony started at ten. Of course, the younger kids, including Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and the twins, were sent away as they would cause more mischief than help. 

Hermione and Ginny sat on the stairs talking quietly, while the boys thought about all the food they were going to eat later.

"I bet I can eat more food than you," Fred said to George.

"I bet I can eat more food than you and Ron combined!" George said.

"I bet you…" Ron started, but what he bet, no one ever found out. At that moment, Mrs. Weasley called to them all.

"Time to go outside to welcome everyone," she said. They reluctantly got up and walked to the entrance of the Hall. 

Most of the guests at the wedding were from out of town, so they had stayed at the hotel upstairs. Harry didn't know any of them. Ron barely knew any of them, at that. He introduced Harry to a few people, but Harry quickly forgot their names. Most people were too busy staring at him to care that he was Ron's friend, anyway. 

"At least none of them will forget _my_ name," muttered Harry as more people gawked at him.

In no time at all, it was ten o'clock. The guests were all there. Harry and Ron went to their seats. They sat at a table with Hermione, Ginny, the twins, and a few other kids Harry didn't know. Ron introduced them.

"This is my cousin, Julie, and my other cousin, Mark. They're from Scotland. And I don't know who _that_ is…" Ron looked at the boy sitting between George and Mark. 

"I'm Simon," the boy said, "Penny's cousin."

"Oh, that could be why we don't know you," said Fred.

"Where do you go to school, Simon?" asked Hermione.

"Post's Academy," he answered.

"Hey, isn't that a Muggle school?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, it's a Muggle school," Simon answered. Ron laughed. "Hey kid," Simon said, "You may think I'm not as good as you, not knowing magic and all…. But I could beat you so bad in a fist fight."

"Fist fight? Wow, that's mature," said Ginny. 

"Wanna have a go right now?" asked Simon. Ron looked like he was ready to fight, but music began to play and they quieted down.

Penelope came in wearing her wedding dress. She looked beautiful. Hermione, Ginny, and Julie started to talk about how lovely Penelope's dress was. Ron, overhearing, was having fits about Percy's wife looking so beautiful, but George pointed out, "Your girl isn't that bad." 

"She's not my girl," Ron said, his ears turning pink. Harry pretended not to hear them.

The wedding went smoothly. After the ceremony, there was dancing and plenty of food. George and Fred ate until they had stomachaches and had to sit down the rest of the night. Hermione and Ginny spent most of their time dancing, along with Julie. 

Suddenly, a slow song came on. Mark asked Ginny to dance with him, so Hermione an Julie went to sit down. After a few moments of encouragement, Julie went to dance with George. 

"Wanna come, Fred?" George called.

"No thanks, Fred said quietly. George and Julie ran onto the dance floor, and Fred trooped off to the punch bowl, muttering something about missing Angelina too much.

The trio was left at the table with Simon.

"Ask her," Harry nudged Ron, looking at Hermione.

"No, why don't you?" Ron said.

"She wants you to. Remember the Yule Ball?"

"Okay…if you say so." Ron turned in his chair towards Hermione.

"Want to dance?" Simon asked Hermione out of nowhere.

"Sure!" Hermione said enthusiastically. She got up and walked to the dance floor with Simon. 

"You missed your chance," said Harry.

"Did you see that look he gave me? Pure evil in that guy, I can tell. He just wanted to stop me from dancing with Hermione!" Ron said angrily.

"Aw, give it a rest, Ron. Maybe he's just lonely. He doesn't know anyone here, it seems."

Percy and Penny had their dance, too. The wedding cake was brought out. It looked so delicious that even Fred and George had a piece. But after that, they had to excuse themselves from the room, clutching their stomachs.

As Mrs. Weasley had said, it was a late night by the time all the guests had left the party. The only people who hadn't left yet were the Weasleys and the Clearwaters, including Simon.

By the time the Weasleys got back to the burrow, it was the next day. They had to clean up everything and decide what to do with the leftover food. After packing everything up, there was still the walk home. Mr. Weasley said it didn't matter if their clothes got wet now that the party was over. They didn't have enough money to get the limousine again.


	14. Rinaldi

****

Chapter 14: Rinaldi

After that day, Christmas holidays flew by. Hermione left the next day. Percy moved his things out of the house. He and Penelope had bought a small cottage nearby, so he would no longer be living with his family. 

Christmas day went along uneventfully. They had a huge dinner and exchanged gifts. _This is just the way a family's Christmas should be,_ Harry thought, as he headed up to bed.

It wasn't long before the students were back at Hogwarts. It was the first Potions lesson of the new term, and Snape didn't look like he'd had a merry Christmas. He was as sour as ever.

"No, Longbottom, the salvaio weed!" he snapped, "not the…. What's that?" The students looked up. There was someone knocking on the door.

Everyone at Hogwarts knew enough not to interrupt Snape's lessons. Harry looked up from the jar of dragon's breath he was trying to unscrew to see how Snape would handle it. 

"He looks pretty mad," Ron whispered in Harry's ear. 

With a look of fury, Snape strode to the door and opened it. "Yes?" he snarled. "Oh, yes, Dumbledore told me you would be coming. We're working on Zapping Potions."

A boy, no older than Harry, came into the room. He looked around the room. There was a dead silence. 

"Wow, look at his eyes!" Lauren gasped. "The only person I've seen with eyes that green is Harry."

Harry stared at the boy's eyes. She was right. His eyes were just as emerald green as his, if not brighter. They were also somewhat familiar. 

"Why not introduce yourself to the class?" said Snape, sarcastically.

"The name's Rinaldi. I'm a new fifth year. Oh, yeah, I'm a Slytherin. And I come from London." 

"Sit down!" Snape barked. 

"Alright, alright! You told me to!" Rinaldi snapped. The class gasped. No one ever spoke back to Snape unless they wanted a detention. Snape's face turned bright red, but he said nothing.

The new kid sat down in front of Malfoy and the other Slytherins. Snape finished his criticism to Neville, and the class started working on their potions again. 

"Why didn't he give that kid a detention for talking back?" asked Ron angrily. "If I'd have interrupted class and spoken back, I'd have a week's worth."

"Maybe he's trying to be nice to the new kid. Or maybe it's because he's a Slytherin," replied Harry.

It wasn't long before Rinaldi had made new friends. He was already joking with Malfoy and his crew.

"Rinaldi!" Snape snapped. The class fell silent. 

"Yeah?" he answered rudely.

"You're a new student. I would expect you to be the least likely student to talk during this lesson. Pay attention!"

Rinaldi rolled his eyes, but he stopped talking.

However, a few minutes later he had started again.

"Mr. Rinaldi!" Snape roared. "Perhaps you would like to demonstrate how to finish the Zapping Potion!"

Rinaldi looked around the room. Everyone was staring at him. He shrugged. "Alright," he said casually.

Snape stared at him. "Whoa! He wasn't expecting that," Ron whispered to Harry. 

The class watched, spellbound, as Rinaldi produced a bright yellow potion which zapped Snape's hand when he tried to pick it up. 

"Very nice," Snape growled. He scowled and knocked the potion onto the floor, where it shattered and spilled. "Clean it up," he barked, but Rinaldi just stood there. "I said, clean it up!"

"Why?" asked Rinaldi coolly. "You spilled it."

Snape turned a bright shade of purple. "You have no right to treat me like that! Get out of my classroom! Get out! Get out, now!"

No one said a word. Rinaldi casually walked to his seat and picked up his books, then walked out of the room slowly. On his way, he flashed a look at Harry. Harry's eyes met his. 

And his scar began to burn.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron asked at lunch the next day.

"There's something about that new kid I don't like."

"Same here. Last night I saw her in front of the mirror and she looked different. Here eyes were greener and she had short black hair."

"Her? I'm talking about Rinaldi. There's something I don't like about him."

"He's a Slytherin."

"No, something else. Did you see the way he looked at me? It hurt." Harry rubbed his scar.

"His Dad's probably a Death Eater or something. Brighten up. What's anyone gonna do to you here? Not with Dumbledore watching."

"Still, I don't like him." Harry shuddered. "Plus, that's the second mysterious new student we've gotten this year."

"Even _I've_ learned by now, there's nothing wrong with Lauren. Okay, so maybe she does look a little different in the mirror. She just transferred from an American school."

"We never got any new students before this year, though. Don't you think it's kinda strange?"

Ron shrugged. "You're being paranoid, Harry."

"Maybe I am, but the only time when my scar hurts like that is when I'm dreaming about Lord Voldemort."

"Do you have to say the name?" Ron muttered. 

"Sorry," Harry said. He was silent for a few minutes. "Oh, you're probably right, Ron. I'm just being careful. Dumbledore and Sirius told me to be on guard. And besides, it was great the way he stood up to Snape. I've never seen him that angry at a _Slytherin_."

"What are we talking about?" Lauren asked, sitting down next to Harry with her lunch. Hermione sat on the other side of her.

"_We_ were talking about that new kid," Ron answered coldly.

"That kid in Slytherin? What's his name…Rinaldi?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, him," said Harry. "I don't like him at all. Did you see that look he gave me?"

"No," said Hermione. "But I don't like him either. Look!" She pointed towards the Slytherin table, where he was sitting with Malfoy and his friends. "He's already hooked up with the wrong people."

"So?" asked Lauren. "He's a Slytherin, who do you expect he'd hang out with? He seems okay to me."

"What are you defending him for?" asked Ron. "All Slytherins are rotten!"

"Not all of them…what about Scott? He's a good kid," Hermione pointed out.

"He's just in the wrong house. Besides, I think he's cute," Lauren added.

"Scott? He's four years younger than you!" Harry exclaimed.

"Not Scott!" Lauren snapped. "Rinaldi! He has nice eyes."

"What?" Ron gasped. "He has the same color eyes as Harry! You don't go around saying Harry's cute all the time!"

"Well I never said he wasn't," Lauren said quietly. Ron's mouth dropped open. "Just kidding! No offense, Harry, but you're not my type!" Lauren laughed. Ron and Harry sighed.

"Can we talk about something else now?" asked Harry.

They stopped talking about it, but it bugged him all day. Why did that boy remind him of someone? He was sure he had never met anyone named Rinaldi, but he was equally sure he had met this boy before. And the way his scar burned…that was definitely familiar. 

Harry wasn't worried as much as he was frustrated. He would never be harmed as long as Dumbledore was at the school. He was sure he could remember him eventually, but for now he tried to put it out of his mind.

This wasn't as easy to do as Harry thought. He was reminded the next day of his unlucky schedule. Care of Magical Creatures was also with the Slytherins. 

"This is bad," Ron said, as they walked down to the classroom together. The day's lesson was being held inside. "That new Slytherin is even worse than Malfoy's crew."

"I think he's part of Malfoy's crew," Harry answered.

"I think he _took over_ Malfoy's crew," Lauren said. "Look!" They followed her gaze to where there was a group of Slytherins gathered around Rinaldi. Pansy Parkington, who was usually attached to Malfoy's arm, was now walking closely next to Rinaldi, hanging on his every word. Malfoy looked slightly jealous.

"You know, I kinda feel sorry for Malfoy," Hermione said.

"Not!" they all shouted.

Malfoy, who had apparently heard the comment, strode over to them, glaring at them. He stopped when he came near them. He looked to his left, then to his right, and the evil look vanished.

"Not so strong without your goons, are you?" taunted Ron.

"Oh, shut up!" Malfoy muttered. He looked menacingly at Rinaldi. "They all think he's so much better than I am. What has he got that I haven't?"

"Could be the eyes," said Lauren.

Malfoy looked defeated. Ron pretended to throw up, but as he was about to make a comment, Hagrid called the class's attention.

"Alright. Let's get down ter business. I know you've forgotten what I taught ya before the winter break, so we need ter get goin'," Hagrid said. The class reluctantly came over. Malfoy went back to stand with his Slytherin friends. He couldn't be seen with the Gryffindors, especially Harry.

"The first animal we're gonna do is the Flidget. Now, due ter some circumstances…." He eyed Malfoy, who looked proud at being mentioned. The other Slytherins didn't look so thrilled. "We can't have one come ter the class until everyone has learned about it and how to handle it safely. So we have ter take notes on it first."

As Hagrid dictated everything anyone would want to know about Flidgets, the class unenthusiastically jotted down notes. Harry looked around the room. Lauren was looking extremely happy, because she was sitting next to Rinaldi. Malfoy kept rolling his eyes at whatever he or Hagrid said. Even Hermione looked bored, though she had two whole sheets of parchment full of writing. 

Harry looked down at his own notes. He didn't see what was so dangerous about Flidgets, although he hadn't been paying attention for the last ten minutes. Neither, it seemed, had anyone else. 

Suddenly, Rinaldi raised his hand. Hagrid looked startled. "Um…yes?"

"What's so remotely dangerous about a Flidget anyway? Why can't we have them in class?"

"Well, I was getting' ter that," Hagrid stammered. "They bite, and they sometimes shoot spells. They're very smart creatures, ya know."

"I know," said Rinaldi, "In fact, I know all about Flidgets. I could conjure one up right now, in this very room."

Hagrid looks stunned for a few seconds, then regained his posture. "I don't think Headmaster Dumbledore wants ya students conjurin' up creatures in the classroom. Ya'd better not."

"I don't care about that old hag Dumbledore," Rinaldi spat. The class gasped.

Hagrid's eyes grew wide. "What'd you just say?" he roared. "No one insults Albus Dumbledore in front of me!" He started to stalk towards Rinaldi. Suddenly, he stopped, as if frozen.

Harry looked around. The rest of the class seemed to be frozen, too. He looked down at his hands and clenched his fist. He wasn't frozen.

"Oh no, no, no. Better not do that. Rewind and Forget," Rinaldi said waving his hand impatiently. Hagrid began to walk quickly backwards. It reminded Harry of watching one of Dudley's videos in rewind.

"Stop!" Rinaldi shouted. The world was frozen again.

Rinaldi sat back down calmly and suddenly the world started moving again. They were at the part before Rinaldi had asked the question about why they weren't allowed to have Flidgets in the classroom. 

Rinaldi looked over at Harry, and he could have sworn he saw him wink. But his scar hurt, so he looked away. He put his head down and listened to Hagrid's endless droning about Flidgets.

There was a small click as Lauren's quill dropped from her desk and floated under Rinaldi's chair. Rinaldi looked down at it, then at Lauren. She quickly looked away so Rinaldi wouldn't know she had been staring at him. Harry had the suspicion she had dropped the quill on purpose.

Rinaldi reached under his desk and picked up the quill. He examined it for a few seconds, then handed it back to Lauren, smiling. 

After class, Harry told the others about the frozen scene. "You must have dozed off," Hermione assured him. "Rinaldi never said a word the whole time." 

"Yeah, that must have been what happened," Harry answered.


	15. Venomous Tentaculas

****

Chapter 15: Venomous Tentaculas 

It was the next day at lunch. The group was sitting in their usual spots at the Gryffindor table when the entire hall grew completely noiseless. No one whispered. No one chewed. No one clinked a fork. They were all staring.

A boy, a _Slytherin_ boy, got up from his table and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Right next to Harry. 

People began to talk now. They whispered excitedly to their neighbors. Both the Slytherins and the Gryffindors were amazed and furious. 

But the boy wasn't just a confused first year. It was Rinaldi, the popular new fifth year. And he knew exactly what he was doing.

Rinaldi stood up again. More chatter. "Mind your own business!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "I can sit anywhere I'd like!" He sat back down and smiled warmly at the students sitting near him. 

"What do you want?" Ron spat.

"I don't want anything," Rinaldi said calmly. "Just to say hi."

"Hi…" said Harry.

"I know you! You're Harry Potter! Wow!" Rinaldi appeared friendly. Harry must have imagined his eyes flicking red as he mentioned the name. "You're in my Potions class! How about that Snape? He's a fruit bat, isn't he?"

"Er…I guess," Harry said uncomfortably.

"But he's head of your house," said Ron.

"So?" said Rinaldi. 

"Wow…." Harry could see Ron was starting to look up to this new kid, as were so many other students. After thinking a while, Harry didn't think there was anything so horrible about him either.

That afternoon brought Herbology. Harry always hated Herbology in the winter because the greenhouses were so cold they had to wear gloves, and scarves to keep from freezing. 

They were feeding the Venomous Tentaculas again. It had been getting slightly easier, but now that they had to wear gloves, their hands were clumsy and it was difficult to get the bats into the Tentaculas' mouths. There were bats flying around the ceiling, most of them released when Neville let go of them too far away for fear of getting bitten.

Each Tentacula was fed four bats per class, so four students were assigned to each one. Lauren, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were assigned to a particularly vicious looking one. Lauren, Harry, and Hermione had finally managed to feed their bats to the Tentacula, and now it was Ron's turn.

Ron put on his gloves and grabbed his bat. He moved towards the Venomous Tentacula to throw the bat towards its mouth. All of a sudden he stumbled and fell even closer towards it. Ron let go of the bat, which flew up to the ceiling, and the Tentacula bit him instead.

"OW!" Ron screamed in pain. He fell to the floor and scooted back so he wouldn't get bit again. 

Professor Sprout ran over and helped Ron up. She removed his glove and looked at the wound. "Oh, no," she said. "This is very serious. Mr. Potter, can you take him inside to the hospital wing?" Harry nodded and they started to walk up to the castle and inside. 

Harry and Ron watched the bite as they walked upstairs. It was turning many shades of green and Ron was starting to feel woozy.

"Harry," he said, as they entered the hall where the hospital wing was located. "Lauren did this."

"What are you talking about? I think you have it in for that girl," Harry replied.

"No, I'm serious. She pushed me. I told you she must have seen me…"

Ron was fading fast, and he started to stumble. Luckily, they had made it to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey said she would take good care of Ron, and Harry went back to class.

"Is Ron going to be okay?" Hermione asked when Harry came back to the greenhouse.

"I think so. Madame Pomfrey had an antidote for him."

"What happened?" asked Hermione. "Did he slip?"

"He says Lauren pushed him," Harry said.

"Oh, but it was an accident!" Lauren cried.

"Of course it was," Harry said. "He said that right before he passed out. He probably didn't know what he was saying."

He hoped what he was saying was true. 

Harry had just finished his library book. It was almost pitch black in the common room, and most everyone had gone to sleep. There was hardly enough light to read by, but he had to finish the book and return it to the library book tonight. He wasn't sure how late it was; it was too dark to see the clock. Harry tiptoed up to his dormitory and retrieved his invisibility cloak. In a few minutes, he was out of Gryffindor tower and on his way downstairs. 

Harry knew he shouldn't be out at night. Snape threatened to expel him all the time. Sirius and Dumbledore had warned him to be cautious. Awful things had happened twice that school year already. Plus, he didn't know where Voldemort was at that moment. 

Harry walked carelessly around the hallway after he had dropped off the book, and he accidentally bumped into Malfoy.

"What are you doing out so late?" they both said at the same time.

"I was returning a library book," Harry said. Malfoy didn't state his reason.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you, Potter," Malfoy said.

"So you're back to last names now?" Harry asked.

Malfoy ignored the comment and continued, "Do you have that book for the Potions assignment?"

"It's right here. I was just about to return it."

"I've been waiting since Monday for someone to return it. Can I borrow yours?"

Harry didn't feel like doing anything for Malfoy. Besides, he was tired and they had early Quidditch practice tomorrow. However, he did want to know what Malfoy was doing snooping around at this hour.

"I'll make you a deal, Malfoy. You tell me what you're doing out of bed and I'll give you the book."

Malfoy thought for a while. "Deal."

"Now what were you doing?"

Malfoy sighed. Harry could see he didn't want to go through with his side of the bargain. "I was looking for suspicious things," he answered.

"Like what?" Harry said skeptically.

"Remember when my cousin got attacked?" Harry nodded. "I'm still trying to find the cause of it."

"Why don't you just ask your dad?"

"I can't ask him."

"Why not?"

"You wouldn't understand. Now I've kept my end of the bargain, so give me the book!" Reluctantly, Harry gave it to him. 

A week later, in Potions, Malfoy walked over to Harry and pretended to make fun of him while slipping him the book under his cloak. Harry noticed there was a slip of paper inside the from cover. He was about to look at it, until Snape started the lesson, and Harry realized he had better put it away before Snape caught him. He pocketed the paper without looking at it. 

"I can't believe you kept a library book out late just so Malfoy could read it!" screamed Lauren, later in the common room. 

"I wanted to see what he was doing snooping around," said Harry.

"She's got a point, Harry. I wouldn't trust Malfoy if he were the only person left at Hogwarts!" Hermione added.

"No harm done," Harry said. "I won't do it again." 

Harry was convinced he had done nothing wrong by giving Malfoy the book, but he did remember that note in his pocket. He was dying to read it. 

Neville, Seamus, and Dean were asleep and Ron was still in the hospital wing, but Harry had drawn the curtains around his four-poster bed just incase. He pulled out the letter and read it under the moonlight that leaked in through the window. 

__

-Harry 

Meet me in the Chamber of Secrets tonight at midnight. Don't chicken out! 

The note had no signature, and he did not recognize the handwriting. It must be from Malfoy, he thought. But why does he want to meet me? Harry looked at his watch. It was a quarter to midnight. They had better get going if he wanted to see what was up. He grabbed his invisibility cloak and went to Lauren's and Hermione's dormitory. 

"Lauren! Hermione!" he whispered. They stirred and opened their eyes. 

"What are you doing in here?" Lauren hissed.

Harry showed them the note. They nodded silently and got out of bed. When they got out into the hallway, Harry covered them in the cloak and they walked as quickly as they could down to the Chamber.

The walked down to the first floor, watching for trick stairs. They pushed open the door to Myrtle's bathroom. Harry hissed at the faucet and they slid down into the first room of the Chamber. 

They walked briskly until they were blocked by the caved-in rock. Harry blasted it with a quick spell, and they went through. They came to a set of rock doors, but they were already opened. 

"Maybe we should have our wands out," Hermione suggested.

"Good idea." They took their wands out and held them, ready to attack. 

Harry, Hermione, and Lauren walked along. They had all been in this room before. This time it was different. They could make out shadowy figures at the end of the chamber, right in front of the picture of Salazar Slytherin. 

As they walked on, they realized there were two figures. One was Malfoy, Harry was sure of that. He was sitting on the stone floor. Light from a torch on the opposite wall reflected off his blonde hair. 

Harry stared at the other figure. No…it couldn't be. 

"You!" Harry shouted when the figure came into view. "I knew you looked familiar! You're not Rinaldi! You're Tom Riddle! You're Lord Voldemort!"


	16. The Secret of Lord Voldemort

****

Chapter 16: The Secret of Lord Voldemort 

Rinaldi's figure came out of the shadows. "Well, you are clever, Harry. At least you figured it out more quickly than this moron." He nodded to Malfoy, who had curled up in a ball, scared stiff. "Since we all know the truth now, I'll change back into a more comfortable body." 

Harry, Lauren, and Malfoy watched the transformation in horror. Rinaldi's human form turned into Lord Voldemort's form. And he was the least human person Harry knew. 

"Now I'm sure you're ready to run off to Dumbledore. I've watched you, Harry. I know what you do every time something happens. Well it won't work this time. Dumbledore knows I'm here. He let me in."

"No," Harry gasped.

"Yes. Of course, it's not the _real_ Dumbledore, but with a little Polyjuice potion, even my stupidest servant can be made to look like that old fool. The real Dumbledore's still off in that pathetic cottage, waiting for me to make my next move. Little does he know I've been plotting all along.

"And now I'd like to reveal to you someone else who isn't who she seems. Lauren - or should I say - Kristen?"

Harry and Hermione watched again as their friend transformed.

"Ron was right!" gasped Harry. "You are different!"

Kristen laughed a high cold laugh just like Voldemort's. "Ron…. He always suspected me, from the very first day. It was hard to convince you that I was trustworthy with him around. So unfortunately, he met with a very nice Tentacula."

"So you did push him," Harry shouted. "And he probably saw you go down into the Chamber of Secrets that night, too!"

Kristen and Voldemort laughed again. "Harry," Voldemort said, "you were always so clever. I think we owe you the story of my little sister."

__

Little sister? Harry thought.

"I believe the three of you are familiar with my Muggle background?" Harry looked around. Hermione had backed against the wall and Malfoy was still crouched in the corner. It looked like, again, he was fighting Voldemort alone.

"While I was in that disgusting orphanage, I met another young Halfblood wizard like myself. That was, of course, Kristen. I sort of adopted her as my sister; she took my last name and we escaped together. However, during the second Muggle World War, we were separated and Kristen was sent off to live and go to school in America.

"Twenty or so years ago Kristen heard a rumor of my power and came back to join me as one of my most loyal Death Eaters. When she heard of my downfall, she fled back to America and assumed her Muggle identity, Lauren Smith. 

"This year, I contacted her. She was to come back and join the school under a false name in order to give me information on you, Harry. As usual, my plans to kidnap you were foiled by my incompetent servant, Wormtail. It wasn't enough to have spies at Hogwarts; I needed to go there myself. After I took my most loyal servants from Azkaban, I could use the insane ones as decoys. They could walk around looking like me, and Dumbledore would think I had been sighted. The real Dumbledore came back with you at Christmas, Harry, then left again the next day. He sent you a letter, which was somehow intercepted." Voldemort smiled wickedly. 

"That's quite enough stalling," he said. "All three of you know my secret, and all three of you must go. If everyone knew I had a sister, then everyone would know of my weakness. Hmm…Which on first?" Lord Voldemort pretended to think for a long while. His eyes locked on Harry's. "Potter. You first because I have been waiting so long to kill you." 

He thought again. "No, maybe you." He turned on Hermione. "The puny Muggle girl. I've always hated Mudbloods, haven't I? I would have loved to kill that Weasley kid, too bad he's in the hospital. No matter. There will be time for that later, when I take over Hogwarts." 

His reddish-yellow eyes focused on Malfoy now. "Then again, Mr. Malfoy might be a nice prize. You're just like your father. You act strong, but you're really nothing." Malfoy's eyes opened wide, and his breath was coming in short gasps.

Lord Voldemort laughed his cold, high pitched laugh. "What am I saying? I'll just kill all of you at once!" He pulled out his wand and began to advance on Harry and Hermione, forcing them back into the corner with Malfoy. Sparks flew from Voldemort's wand. He was going to kill Harry Potter once and for all.

Harry still had his wand out, but it was no use. His wand wouldn't work against Lord Voldemort's; they had proven that last summer. 

"_Expell_- No, that won't work. Kristen, you do it."

"_Expelliarmus!_" Kristen shouted. The three students' wands fell at her feet.

"_Avada Kedavra,_" Voldemort said. Harry was expecting to die.

Kristen had taken a step forward in anticipation and had slipped on Malfoy's wand. She tripped and fell right into the line of fire as Voldemort used the curse. 

"NO!" he shrieked as Kristen fell to the ground, dead. 

"RUN!" Harry shouted. He and Hermione began to run, but Malfoy was too scared to move. They grabbed their wands and headed for the entrance.

"Not so fast," Voldemort shouted. "_Stupefy!_" Harry and Hermione were frozen in place. Now they were doomed.

But someone else's voice had also called the spell at the same time. Dumbledore, Snape, Sirius, and Lupin ran into the room, their wands all pointed at Lord Voldemort. There was a loud _pop_ and a cloud of smoke and Voldemort was gone. 

Sirius did the counter curse on Harry and Hermione. Harry helped Malfoy up, but he was severely shaken, and collapsed again.

"Wait until everyone hears what a wimp you are, Malfoy," Harry said. Malfoy stood up immediately.

"Potter, if you…"

"I was kidding," Harry said. "Come on, let's get out of here." 

Dumbledore led everyone to his office. 

"Professor," Harry said quickly. "One of Lord Voldemort's servants is in your office using Polyjuice potion to be you." 

"I know," said Dumbledore. "There's probably enough hair up there to keep a potion going for years," he joked. 

"How did you…?"

"I went to see the Headmaster about a certain student," Snape said

"Rinaldi," Hermione said.

"Yes," Snape answered. "When the impostor told me it was nothing to worry about and did not do anything about it, I knew something was wrong."

"Snape contacted us at Lupin's," Sirius said, as if he was still remembering being forced to talk to Snape, "and we told him Dumbledore was there."

"That's when we all decided to come back," Lupin finished.

"It's lucky we did," Dumbledore said. "Voldemort could have finished off the whole school by now."

They had arrived at the office entrance. "Cockroach Cluster," Dumbledore said. The statue didn't move. 

"He must have changed the password," Snape said.

"Stand back everyone," Dumbledore said. "_Kojikocio_!" Dumbledore shouted, and the statue was reduced to pieces. The stairs opened, and they all climbed up to his office. 

"W-Who is it?" Dumbledore's voice called. The impostor came to the top of the stairs and looked down. When he saw who was coming, he started to run. "_Stupefy_!" shouted four voices at once. The impostor Dumbledore was thrown across the room and crashed into the desk.

"Get ready. I'm going to wake him up and question him," Dumbledore said. "Sirius, will you perform the Depolyjuice spell?"

Sirius nodded. 

"Alright then, _Ennervate._"

The impostor started to wake up, and Dumbledore said, "_Bindio._" The impostor was tied up. Sirius performed the Depolyjuice spell and the impostor started to change into another recognizable form.

Wormtail.

If Harry had ever seen Wormtail look scared before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. His eyes were as wide as a house elf's and his breath was short and labored. "P-Professor Dumbledore, S-Sirius-"

"Save it," Sirius barked. "You got away from me the last time, but this time, Peter, you _will_ die."


	17. Wormtail's Sentence

****

Chapter 17: Wormtail's Sentence

"Wait! Don't kill him!" Harry said.

"Harry," Sirius began.

"Harry, remember what happened last time," Lupin said.

"No," said Harry, "it's not that. It's just… well, if we have Wormtail, he can confess and then Sirius' name will be cleared."

Sirius looked at Harry and his face broke into a smile. "That's a great idea!" he shouted. 

So it was decided. Dumbledore accompanied Sirius, Lupin, and Wormtail to the Ministry of Magic. Using a truth potion, Wormtail was forced to confess about his faked death. Sirius' name was cleared; he was no longer a wanted criminal. Peter Pettigrew was locked up in a special magic-proof cell in the basement of the Ministry of Magic. 

Ron soon felt better, and Harry and Hermione filled him in on their adventures ("I told you that girl was suspicious!"). Ron was a little disappointed at missing another adventure, but now the trio had other things to worry about: exams and the final Quidditch match.

It was that night. Harry had been asleep for a few minutes when he started to dream.

"Wormtail, it's just like you to go and let yourself get caught. Are you a complete imbecile?"

"No, Master. I'm sorry, Master. It won't happen again."

"It certainly won't," Voldemort said, his eyes gleaming in the dark dungeon.

"Master, no, please!"

"You have failed me too many times. I can't have you blabbing all my secret plans to these Ministry fools. Besides, now that some of the Azkaban prisoners are starting to become themselves again, I no longer need you."

Harry could hear sniveling and crying coming from the prison cell. 

"_Avada Kedavra._"

"Hey! Who's there?" a voice called.

There was a small _pop_ and Lord Voldemort was gone.

Harry woke up at this moment, but he was too tired to get up and tell Dumbledore, thinking he would do it the next morning. But by the time he woke up again, he had forgotten all about the dream.

Harry and Ron walked down to breakfast together the next day. Hermione was already there eating and reading her copy of the _Daily Prophet_. "Check this out," she said to Ron and Harry as they sat down beside her. She handed them the front page, which read:

****

Pettigrew Faked Death; Black Innocent

Fifteen years ago, a man named Sirius Black was accused of killing thirteen Muggles, Peter Pettigrew, and betraying Lily and James Potter's hiding place to You-Know-Who, _writes Rita Skeeter, special correspondent._ Only two years ago, Black was miraculously able to escape from Azkaban. Black was believed to be one of the Dark Lord's most loyal servants and double agent. It turns that it was the other way around. 

It was discovered that Pettigrew was an unregistered Animagus, able to turn himself into a rat. This ability let himself escape from Black, cutting off his finger to let it seem as though he had been killed. Pettigrew then, as a rat, let himself be adopted by an anonymous wizarding family, where he stayed for twelve years. 

Pettigrew was found impersonating Headmaster Albus Dumbledore of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Pettigrew was forced to confess with Veritaserum and was placed in a magic-proof cell below Cornelius Fudge's office. Pettigrew was found dead this morning of unknown causes.

"I heard a strange noise last night when I was on my rounds," said a night watchman. "But when I got to the cell, there was no one there." 

All charges against Black have been dropped and Pettigrew will be buried this afternoon. 

"He's gone," said Harry.

"Serves him right. At least they didn't mention our name," Ron said, shuddering.

"Did you notice who the article was written by?" Hermione asked slyly.

"Rita Skeeter?" said the boys in unison. 

"And no made up facts or opinions?" said Ron incredulously. "Wow, being kept in a jar must have done that woman some good."

The Easter holidays were quickly approaching, and so was the final Quidditch match. Ravenclaw had beaten Slytherin, and Hufflepuff had beaten Ravenclaw, so all Gryffindor had to do was beat Hufflepuff and they would win the Quidditch cup. 

The match had started off as usual, and Gryffindor Chaser had already scored two goals each. Unfortunately, Hufflepuff was even better this year with their new Seeker and Captain, Isaac Tremblor. Isaac also had a Firebolt, and the two Seekers were evenly matched. But Harry hadn't yet seen the Snitch yet, so the kept playing.

"Angelina Johnson scores again, bringing Gryffindor's score up to 130," Lee called unenergetically. The game had been going on for two and a half hours and the teams were tired. Harry watched as a Hufflepuff Chaser got the Quaffle and scored. The teams were tied now. The scores in the other matches had been close, so whoever caught the Snitch now would win their team the Cup. 

Harry felt the pressure on him. He had to win! And then he saw Isaac zooming towards the middle of the field. The Snitch was there! Harry put on a burst of speed, but he wasn't sure if his Firebolt could beat Isaac's; he had never flown against another one before. 

Harry flattened himself as much as possible to the broom handle. He was gaining. 

The two Seekers were side by side. Harry reached out, Isaac reached out. And then Harry felt something small and smooth in his hand. He had caught the Snitch! 

The whistle blew and the team flew to the ground. The Gryffindors in the crowd spilled onto the field, including Hermione, Neville, Seamus, and Dean, who started to congratulate the team. Madame Hooch passed Harry the cup, and he passed it around to the rest of the team. It was even better winning the Quidditch cup when he was the captain.

Weeks passed; it was getting to be warm outside and no one wanted to pay attention to lessons, let alone study. Hermione pressured the boys into it, thought, and they were usually the only three people in the common room in the afternoons. 

Hermione was spending a lot more time with Ginny now that Lauren was gone. Harry couldn't help but think that Ginny was a little jealous of Lauren and Hermione's friendship and was secretly glad of Lauren's true identity. 

Not surprisingly, Malfoy was back to his old self. His gang of Slytherins looked up to him again, now that Rinaldi was gone. Malfoy never told anyone about his time in the Chamber of Secrets. 

Exams came and went, and they all did well enough. Fifth years also had to take the O.W.Ls, which were even harder than regular exams, but they each did well. Fred and George were in their seventh year, and they had to take the N.E.W.Ts. Even though the twins looked like jokers, they were actually very smart, and did well. 

The last week of school, Professor Delacour announced that she and her boyfriend, Roger Davies, were moving to France so she could teach at her old school, Beauxbatons. Scott Malfoy approached the Gryffindor table and told everyone that he was moving and that his parents wanted him to transfer to Durmstrang. 

It turned out that Joey Marshall had no idea that Lauren was pretending to be his sister. In fact, Joey was the oldest child in his family; he had two younger sisters. He had never really understood why Lauren was always telling him things and being protective. 

It was the end of the year feast; time to go back home. Harry was actually looking forward to it because he no longer had to go to the Dursleys. He could stay with Sirius for the entire summer! Dumbledore re-congratulated Gryffindor for winning the Quidditch Cup, but there was no House Cup winner because they had decided not to use points this year. This made Snape particularly angry because he loved taking away points from students he hated. 

The next morning, everyone got on the Hogwarts Express and traveled back to King's Cross Station. When Harry got off the train and saw Sirius waiting for him, he knew this was going to be the best summer ever. 


End file.
